


Seven Deadly Idiots (Without the Deadly)

by CryptidKid2020



Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Attempt at Humor, Attempted Sexual Assault, Based on a Tumblr Post, Bisexuality, Depression, Fake AH Crew, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, I'm Sorry, Jeremy-centric, M/M, Slow Burn, Some hints of - Freeform, Swearing, based on the 7 deadly sins
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-19
Updated: 2018-01-05
Packaged: 2019-02-04 07:14:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 65,644
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12765843
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CryptidKid2020/pseuds/CryptidKid2020
Summary: Jeremy Dooley guesses his life could be worse, but it doesn't mean it's going to get better. Until an opportunity from a dead dudes grandkid changes his life forever.





	1. This life isn't working out

**Author's Note:**

> I haven't written anything in over a year, but a friend paid me to write this, so here you go. :~)
> 
>  
> 
> Warnings in this chapter: Attempted Sexual assault/ Panic attacks/ swearing/ and a lot of angst
> 
> ((This story is purely fictional and are not at all accurate to these real-life people and their real lives. This story is not a real depiction of any of the people written in it in real life.))  
> *Edit* Changed Kats name to an ofc name.

Jeremy Dooley guesses his life could’ve ended up worse than it already is, he could’ve landed a stunt wrong in gymnastics and become paralyzed from the neck down. That his parents could have kicked him out when he came out as bisexual- only after his mother and father found another boy in his bed one night. That he could be dead already, robbed, kidnapped, or even beaten to the last inch of life-hospitalized for the rest of his days. Awake and in constant pain, without the inability to say how much he wanted it all to end. No, Jeremy Dooley knows that in this point of time in his young adulthood- that it could be worse than it is now.

“What the hell are you still doing here, do you not know how to fucking read?!” Jeremy sighs, as his snaps out of his thoughts, he stops looking at the giant sign nailed onto his shitty apartment door, it reading ‘EVICTION NOTICE’. And looks over to his fuming, _now_ , ex-landlord.

“Are you both blind and deaf? Get the fuck out of here, Dooley!” Shouts his landlord- alcohol drenched breath, and spit flying dangerously close to Jeremy's face.

“Look, Mr. Paulson, at least let me grab my stuff,” Jeremy says, his tone tired and weak, with not an ounce of anger in it. With furrowed brows, Mr. Paulson eyes scan Jeremy’s exhausted form up and down.

“Fine,” His landlord decides, sneering as he walks past him, shoving the short man to the side. The older and larger man’s action nearly making Jeremy tumble over. Lazily catching himself on his door, Jeremy goes to unlock his apartment while blocking out his ex-landlord’s heavy footsteps and loud cursing.

His life could be worse, but his life could’ve also been better.

* * *

 

 Jeremy lets out a deep breath, as he throws the last remaining duffle bag stuffed full of his belongings into the car. Harshly shutting the trunk, he freezes and closes his eyes praying that his makeshift rear window won’t collapse. Relaxing slightly when he doesn’t hear the tragic sound of ripping duct tape, he slowly opens his eyes and sighs in relief. He attempts to release some tension by brushing his fingers through his hair, wincing as they snag on tangles. Jeremy silently gets into the driver’s seat and flips open his phone and dials up his girlfriend, smiling when it rings- but falling quickly when she picks up with a soft ‘ _hello, who’s this?_ ’

“U-Um, Kate, it’s Jeremy, did you lose my number or something?” He laughs nervously, as silence continues on her end. He hears a barely inaudible ‘ _shit_ ’ and some shuffling then another man’s voice saying, ‘ _who is it, babe?_ ’.

“ _N-Nobody, Jake_. _Go back to bed I’ll be right back,”_ Jeremy’s hands start to shake, he uses his unoccupied hand and presses it into his eyes that are starting to burn as his mind screams ‘ _SHES CHEATING ON YOU!_ ’, over and over like a terrifying mantra.

“K-Kate, who is Jake?” He asks, cringing as his voice cracks.

“ _Fuck, Jeremy, I was going to tell you,”_ She quietly says, her tone pitiful and a little annoyed.

“Tell me what? That your cheating on me with some other man named Jake!” His voice growing louder as he starts to become angry.

“ _Well yes, but look, Jeremy-it wasn’t working out. You haven’t been able to support me for a long_ _time,”_ She tells him like it’s Jeremy’s fault that she’s cheating on him.

“What the hell does that mean Kate! I work constantly, I buy us food and clothing, I-I love you with my whole being. How else am I to support you, support us?” Asked Jeremy, angrily wiping away at the tears threating to fall.

“ _I need a real man, Jeremy! God, I can hear you over the phone, I know you’re crying right now, alone in your shitty apartment!_” Kate shouts, making Jeremy pull the phone away from his ear, before shouting back into it.

“Well- bet you’ll be _so_ happy to hear that I was  evicted from ‘my shitty apartment’ just today!” Explodes Jeremy, not caring about the tears traveling down his face in thick rivers.

“ _Wow, now you’re even more pathetic then I thought you were! You need to man up Jeremy, no woman or man will ever date you if you keep being a spineless loser!_ ” Kate snaps out, with a heartless chuckle.

Sitting alone in the dark in his pathetic and broken car, Jeremy chokes on his words and stifles a sob. His mind blank, yet _so, so **loud**._

“ _I’m breaking up with you, never contact me again,_” Kate sneers and ends the call.

Jeremy silently closes his phone and drops it into the passenger seat, rests his head on the steering wheel, and simply lets out half-broken sobs for what seems like hours-alone and feeling like he's been torn apart.

His life could be worse, but his life could’ve been _much_ better.

* * *

 

Jeremy finds himself, red-eyed, exhausted both mentally and _physically-_ overall just wanting a hug.

Standing at the door of his best friend’s apartment. Internally debating on knocking or whether he should just leave and crash at a Walmart parking lot for the night, but his body unconsciously knocks on the door without further hesitation.

He waits a couple seconds before knocking again, he rocks back and forth on his heels and toes before going to knock for the third time, but before he can, the door opens and reveals a tired and messy haired man.

“Hey, Matt.” Says Jeremy giving Matt an ever so wavering smile.

“Fuck, Jeremy do you even know what time it is?” Matt replies, rubbing the sleep away from his eyes with the palm of his hands.

“I think around one in the morning?” Jeremy shyly guesses, feeling guilty for waking up Matt so early.

“It’s two thirty in the morning, man why are you here?” Yawns Matt, looking down at the shorter man a slight expression of irritation playing on his face.

“Uh, well, one; I’ve been evicted, two; Kate broke up with me, and three; I really, _really_ need a hug right now,” Jeremy breathed out while clenching his fists to stop them from shaking.

“Oh Fuck, dude, _dude._ W-Why didn’t you call?” Matt stutters out as he ushers his smaller friend inside, suddenly feeling all too awake.

Closing the door behind him, his body shivers from the difference from the cold night air to the warmer interior heating of Matts apartment, “Well, my dumb ass threw it out the window and ran it over with my car,” Admitted Jeremy, following Matt into the kitchen where the other is starting to make coffee. 

“I love you Jeremy, but why the fuck did you throw out the one thing you own that works well. Also, you want some coffee?” Matt questions turning to look at Jeremy. Earning a quiet ‘no’, Matt turns back and grabs a cup for himself.

“Kate broke up with me over the phone,” Jeremy says, and wordlessly opens Matt’s upper kitchen cabinet and pulls out a large bottle of vodka.

Matt’s eyes widen as he watches Jeremy take off the cap and take a long drink from the bottle, “Shit Jer, save some for me,” Matt jokes nervously and takes the bottle of vodka from Jeremy, who just sadly grunts at the loss.

An awkward silence begins between the two but is quickly broken as the coffee makes a sound that its ready. As Matt turns his attention back to his coffee, Jeremy grabs the bottle again and walks away from the kitchen ignoring the scoff that Matt makes.

“You better pay me back if you’re going to drink the whole thing!” Matt calls out from the kitchen, as Jeremy sinks his body into the comfort of Matt’s couch.

“Don’t worry Matt, you know I will,” Jeremy mumbles, as he takes another swig from the bottle.

Jeremy lazily watches Matt as he enters the living room, bringing the nice soothing smell of freshly brewed coffee along with him, “I know you will buddy,” Matt replies with a smile while gently rubbing Jeremy's shoulder.

 His life could be worse, but his life could be getting better.

* * *

 

Jeremy goes to work on Monday, equipped with a painful hangover from drinking all weekend, and a sore back from sleeping on Matt's couch.

He’d been working as a waiter for about half a year at a small yet very well-known diner. Jeremy wishes it was still just a mom and pop business, like it was a six months ago, he liked keeping all the tips he got, but he knew that sooner or later the diner would be bought from under them, and made into a franchised fast food joint, where all the waiting staff were treated like garbage. He was one of the ‘lucky’ ones who didn’t get fired.

“Sir! Are you thickheaded? I’ve said my order about four times now!” Screeches an old lady, snapping her old wrinkly fingers in front of Jeremy's face.

“Ma’am I got your order the first time- you’ve paid and everything, I have no idea why you’re still trying to order,” Jeremy tries to politely tell the old lady.

“Young man, I haven’t given you a dime! And you won’t get my money if you don’t take my order right now,” Snaps the old lady, shaking her feeble fist at Jeremy.

“Look, ma’am, you have a receipt in your hand, _please_ go sit, and your food will be up-,”

“Listen moron just take her fucking order! We all have places to be,” interrupts an angry gruff voice, and Jeremy looks up from the old lady and sees a large line of customers all looking irritated and angry.

“I’m very sorry, but this lady is-,”

“I don’t care, I just want some food!” Interrupts another customer.

“We’ve been waiting for six minutes asshole! Just take her order again!” Another angry customer shouts at Jeremy.

“I have children, Sir! I like it if you didn’t cuss in front of them!” Jeremy watches as a middle-aged mother starts to scream at the man who yelled at him- then at that point Jeremy realizes that this isn’t going to end up well.

“Everybody!” A new loud voice yells out, catching everyone’s attention- including Jeremy. Who's never once felt so glad to see his manager.

“I’m sorry about the kid here,” apologizes Jeremy’s boss, shooting a near-deadly look at Jeremy.

“I’ll get some more people up front to help the rest of you, also Y'all will get twenty percent off of this purchase,” Jeremy’s boss continues with a strained smile on his face, and in seconds Jeremy feels some amount of panic recede as he watches the anger on the many customers faces dissipate.

“Dooley,” Jeremy quickly looks up at who called his name and makes eye contact with his boss.

“My. Office. Now,” Jeremy gives him a curt nod and his nervousness makes him slowly walk and follow his boss into his office.

Entering the office, he hesitantly sits down across from his manager's seat. Flinching when his boss lets the door slam behind him, Jeremy immediately makes sure that his eyes won’t and _can’t_ meet his bosses eyes.

Jeremy hears the squeak of his bosses chair from the other man’s weight when he sits down, he hears his boss clear is throat and cracks his knuckles- Jeremy knows nothing good is going to come out of this meeting.

“So, Dooley,” His boss calmly starts, “Look at me Dooley, I need to know your listening,” He continues.

Jeremy raises his head, but looks off to the side of his managers head, “I’m listening,” Jeremy answered, swallowing his panic.

“What happened outside this room that made a riot nearly happen?” Jeremy watches as his boss folds his meaty hands together with a golden ring attached to his finger, and rests them on his desk.

“Well, Sir, an old lady-,”

“Dooley, not Sir, It’s _Jeff_ , please do call me so,” Jeff smirks as he interrupts Jeremy, “Continue.”

“Well, _Jeff_ , this old lady ordered a basic meal and paid for it. Then she proceeded to order her meal four more times, even though her food was already being made. A-And I didn’t want to just take her order again and get more money because I knew she was just confused, so I tried to tell her that she’s already ordered and that her food will be up shortly-,”

“Look, Dooley I don’t care about the old woman,” Interrupted Jeff, unfolding his hands and using them to push himself out of his seat.

“Jeff, she’s the reason why it all started!” Jeremy snaps, confused as he watches Jeff circle around the small office space, circling around Jeremy like a predator playing with its prey.

“But how could it have been handled, before everyone started yelling?” Jeff asks Jeremy.

Jeremy was beginning to get more and more confused, what was his boss trying to get him to say? That he screwed up? No. He did the humane thing and tried to make an old lady a little less confused. Sure, things escalated but nothing that couldn’t be fixed in a couple seconds-like it did.

“Nothing that I could've done Jeff,” Jeremy replied, getting fed up with his boss, plus his headache was getting worse and worse as this impromptu meeting went on.

He hears his bosses footsteps around the office stop behind him.

“You sure about that, Dooley?” Jeff’s asks.

“Absolutely, the old lady was confused. The other customers don’t have patience, and I was the only one working up front. It was going to happen no matter what, _Sir_ ,” Jeremy insisted, a hidden sly smirk on his face.

“And if it’s all right for me to go back to work, I’d like to-,”

“You’re fired,” Jeff says.

Jeremy’s smirk falls into a frown and quickly stands up to face his boss, “W-What?” Jeremy stuttered.

“I said you’re fired, give me your uniform and get the fuck out,” Spat out Jeff, glaring at Jeremy’s shocked expression before cackling.

Annoyed by Jeff’s asshole behavior, Jeremy starts to push past Jeff, “Fine, screw you I’m leaving. Hope your wife leaves you for a man with a smaller dick than yours.”

Jeremy pulls the door open-but before he can fully open it, a large meaty hand slams it shut. Turning to yell at Jeff, his ex-boss grabs the front of his shirt and slams him against the office door, “What the hell! I was leaving,” Jeremy huffs, shaking his head as his vision swims slightly from his head colliding with the door.

“And I was going to let you leave, but then you used fighting words,” Jeremy looks up and is met with an enraged expression from Jeff. Jeremy growls and pushes at Jeff’s chest, successfully getting the bigger man to let go of him.

“Your acting crazy! How fuck did you even become the manager of this place?” Jeremy rasped, his vision still slightly swimming.

“By money and by force,” Jeff hisses, still towering over Jeremy.

“Fuck this, I’m leaving. Hope I never have to see you again,” Declared Jeremy once again going for the door.

“Not so fast, Dooley,” Said Jeff, slamming the door again on Jeremy, earning an annoyed huff from the smaller man.

“What?” Jeremy asks without turning around- he's done with his _ex_ -boss, his head hurts, and he just really wants to get back to Matt’s place and not think about the last couple of days.

“Why did you make a comment about my cock if you haven’t tried it."

Jeremy’s entire body, mind, and _soul_ just freezes. He knows Jeff moved his hand from the door, Jeremy knows he’s quick enough to escape, to call the police- say that his manager is a fucking _creep_ _,_ and just go _home-_ But he’s fucking frozen solid and he just _can’t move._

“Not only does my wife like my cock, but _each_ and _every one_ of your coworkers do _too-_ wanna know why you got to keep this job?” Jeff nearly purrs in a low whisper, and _no-_  Jeremy _doesn’t_ want to know, he _doesn’t_ care, he just wants to go _home_ and never think of _Jeff_ again.

Jeremy shivers when he feels Jeff’s breath on his neck, he shuts his eyes so tightly he sees stars, “Your nice ass only got to keep this job, because every day I wanted to imagine you on your knees and sucking me off,” He starts to laugh while moves closer into Jeremy’s space, to where Jeremy muffles a sob as he feels something hard press against his back. He stands petrified as Jeff’s meaty, and _oh’ so burning_ meaty hands, flip him around and manhandle him to kneel in front of him. Jeremy hears a zipper and-

“Guess my daydreaming finally can become a  _reality_.”

Jeremy skin aches and he can almost _feel_ those words hitting his skin, every letter engraving deep into him. With those words, Jeremy reacts faster and moves faster than he’s ever moved before- and before he knows it, Jeff’s on the ground howling in pain while curled into a ball holding what can only be the remnants of his genitals. He’s left frozen on his knees thinking ‘ _oh thank god, I’m free’._ Then he quickly and shakily stands up to run to his nearest coworker begging for her to ‘ _please call the police, holy fuck_.’

Then the next thing Jeremy knows is that his world is black, his body is cold and numb. The last thing he's wanting is for the world to leave him the fuck alone _just_ once.

His life could be worse, but his life _can’t_ get better.

* * *

 

Jeremy wakes up with an _even_ worse headache, a sore body and the _overwhelming_ sensation to vomit. He’s quickly opening his eyes and looking around for a trash can, he leans over to his left and luckily finds something that resembles one. Snatching it up before retching up everything that was residing his stomach, nearly crying on how much his throat hurt. A cup of water is conveniently shoved in front of his face, distracting him as someone takes the bin away from him.

Going against an unknown voices orders of ‘ _don’t drink it too fast_ , _it’ll make you throw up again.’_  Even though he wanted to listen to the voice, once the cold refreshing water hit his lips, Jeremy physically couldn't take it away until it was completely empty.

After the cup was empty and his throat wasn’t hurting as bad as it was before, he learned that the voice was a _nurse_ and that he was at the _hospital_.

“Do you know what your name is?” Questioned the nurse, clicking a pen.

“J-Jeremy Nicholas Dooley, am I at a hospital?” Jeremy asks back, confused.

 _“_ Yes, you are Mr. Dooley, now on a scale of one to ten, what is your pain level?” She questions, clicking her pen again.

“A one or a two, uh who are you?” He asks wanting to know more why the hell he’s at the hospital.

“I’m a nurse, my name is Suzie, what is the last thing you remember?” She answers with a polite smile, before asking another question.

“Um, at work? I think I was working?” Jeremy says, afraid of why he can’t remember what happened.

“Can you remember anything that happened at work, before you woke up here?” She asks in a calm soothing voice, watching the heart monitor he is hooked up to spike a lil bit.

Jeremy tries to remember but is just getting nothing and it scares him, ‘ _did I do something illegal?’, ‘did someone attack me?’,_ his mind is racing with so many possibility and none of them are good.

“N-No, I can’t. I really can’t s-sorry,” He stutters out, freaking out on what could have had happened.

The nurse gives him a sad smile and proceeds to tell him what he was emitted for, while talking Suzie unhooks him from the machines and brings him his bagged belongings. All the while he nods and asks minimal questions, although most of the questions the nurse can’t answer- due to her not knowing, or her not being able to say without either a doctor or police officer being present. But Jeremy does get to know three things; That he had a minor concussion, that with the events he went into shock, and that he can go home later today but- only after he talks to the police.

When Suzie leaves for her other rounds, she says goodbye by wishing good things for him. Jeremy smiling kindly in response says thank you.

Less than twenty minutes later, two male police officers come in, one looking oddly too young for this job and the second one looking aggressive and annoyed.

“Hello, I was told some police officers were going to stop by before I could leave,” Jeremy tells them, slightly shying away from the second police officer.

“And you were told right, I’m officer Price, and this is my partner, officer Roberts,” Jeremy nods at the two of them.

“We just want to ask you some questions, Is that alright?” Price asks, Jeremy nods.

“Your name is Jeremy Dooley, Correct?” Price asks.

“Yes,”

“Were you working today?”

“Yes,”

“Do you know why you’re in the hospital?”

“I had a minor concussion and apparently went into shock- I have no idea what caused it or what happened?” Jeremy responds, having no clue about what happened to him.

“Price-he doesn’t know shit, we have everything we need, the others already made their statements. Let’s just leave,” Barked officer Roberts glaring to the side towards Jeremy, making him shift a little in the hospital bed.

“Shut up Roberts- just one more question,” Price tells his partner earning a scoff as he Roberts walks out of the hospital room.

“Sorry about my partner, he’s been on the job way longer then I have been,” Price apologizes, “What do you know about your manager Jeff?” Price continues.

Jeremy’s eyes widen, and his entire body starts to shake as the name of his _ex_ -managers name was said aloud, ‘ _Oh yeah, I was fired_ ’. Jeremy’s mind seems to do to a hyper restart, what happened just a few hours starts to play over and over in his mind. Replaying and skipping to certain parts like a broken record- every time it goes around it feels like a thousand volts running through his body.

“Mr. Dooley? Are you okay? Do you need me to call the nurse?” Jeremy hears Price frantically ask him questions that he desperately needs to answer, but _he can’t catch his breath._

“I’m going to get the nurse I’ll be right back,” And Jeremy forces out a ‘No’, because he can’t be alone right now, and this police officer is treating him better than most people he’s known for years.

“Are you sure?” Price asks, still looking like he’s going to bolt and get a nurse.

“Y-Yes,” Jeremy coughs out, and stables his breathing more because _he_ _needs to see Jeff in prison,_ “I-I was fired today, _J-Jeff,_ ” Jeremy spits out the name like its poison on his tongue.

“My _ex_ -manager trapped me in his office and tried to make, _fuck_ ,” Jeremy curses, trying to get the words out but his body feeling like is turning to stone and it _hurts_.

“Mr. Dooley-,” Price starts,

“C-Call me, Jeremy, _please_ ,” He asks, and Price nods silently.

“Take all the time you need, _Jeremy_ ,” Price tells him, and Jeremy takes a deep breath.

" He _tried_ to make me suck him off, a-and he fucking admitted to forcing my co-workers to do the same,” Jeremy spat, no longer filled with fear but with anger, and the urge to beat Jeff’s face in. Price looks shocked for a second at Jeremy’s confession, then looks determined and nods at Jeremy.

“What’s going to happen to Jeff?” Jeremy asks, sitting up in the hospital bed knowing he gets to leave soon, and waves off Price as he tries to help out.

“Definitely Prison time,” Immediately answers Price, “Also he’s to be in there for years, due to almost all your co-workers saying the same thing about your ex-manager,”

Jeremy stops trying to rush, and looks over at Price, feeling his anger dissipate back into the slight fear and numbness he’s been feeling for a long time. He looks away and grabs his belongings and heads to the bathroom, without saying a goodbye to Price he closes the door and sinks to the floor.

His life could be worse, but his life _isn’t_ getting any better.

* * *

 

As he’s leaving the hospital, Jeremy runs into Suzie as she’s getting off of her shift. Jeremy thanks her again and starts to walk back to his old job, his cars still there and even though the thought of going back _there_ make him wanna scream and run away- he still needs his car.

“Mr. Dooley! Where are you going?” Jeremy sighs as he watches Suzie pull up to where he stopped on the sidewalk and turns to look at her a tired smile on his face.

“Get in I’ll drive you home,” she says cheerfully.

Jeremy thinks about lying to her, saying it’s only a block away but- Jeremy tells himself that he _did_ just leave the hospital.

“Thanks,” Jeremy says and gets into the car.

The drive is silent and awkward, he tells her to stop at the corner in a couple blocks and drop him off so he can walk the rest. She just frowns at him but says nothing. After a few more minutes she pulls over on the corner, just like he asked her and gets out.

“Jeremy!” She shouts out at him, poking her head through her window, as he quickly tries to walk away.

He stops yet again and looks back at Suzie, “Yeah?” Jeremy calls back.

“I meant it when I said, I wish good things for you! I wish the greatest, most wonderful things! Trust me!” Then Suzie drives off without another word, letting Jeremy turn away and keep walking.

His life could be worse, but his life still _isn’t_ going to get any better.

* * *

 

Jeremy got back his car and drove back to Matt house only to find his best friend playing video games and eating a giant bowl of ice-cream. He smiles at the friendly sight of Matt and grabs the extra controller and joins as player two. And without a word exchanged between the two, they play video games until their eyes start to feel like stone. Turning off his X-Box, Matt sits back down next to Jeremy who’s half asleep.

“How was your day?” Matt asks, knowing that the recent days haven’t been too kind to his smaller friend.

“I got fired,” Jeremy says before he can correct himself.

“What!?” Matt exclaimed, Jeremy just groans and scoots away from Matt.

“What the fuck did you do?” Matt questions, standing up from the couch, and pacing back and forth, “How the hell do you screw up your life this badly?” Matt whispers to himself, not expecting Jeremy to hear him.

Feeling fully awake Jeremy gets up from the couch, and glares at the back of Matt's head, “What did you say?” Jeremy asks.

“Nothing-  _god_ Jer, what are you going to do for a living?” Matt asks, walking back to where Jeremy is.

“I can get a job, I’m not completely useless,” Jeremy answers, know full well he can get a job.

“Where are you gonna stay?” Matt asks turning away from Jeremy.

Confused, Jeremy walks over to where Matt is facing and looks up at him, forcing Matt to make eye contact with him, “What do you mean, I’m gonna stay here,” Jeremy says.

Matt turns away, and Jeremy feels his heart start to shatter, “Matt? Right, I’m staying here with you, Right? Matt? Matt? _Please_ ,” Jeremy feels once again frozen in spot, but not in fear but in betrayal from his best friend.

“I’m sorry Jer, but I can barely afford food and a roof over my head for myself,” Matt apologies still without looking at Jeremy, “And it’s not like you have no money, you can find a cheap place to stay,” Matt says.

“No, I don’t,” Jeremy mutters.

“What?” Matt blurted, quickly turning to face Jeremy.

“I was at the hospital all day today I-,” Jeremy stops himself from telling the truth, it’s pathetic really what almost happened to him, he doesn’t want Matt’s pity, he just wants his life back, he wishes that today _didn’t_ happen, he wants Kate  _back_ , he wishes that he _wasn’t_ evicted, that he just had the semi-sense of the balanced normalcy back into _his life_.

“You what Jeremy? A-Are you alright?” Worried Matt, Jeremy knows if he told his friend the truth he’d be able to stay, but Matt has his own life and Jeremy needs to start to build up a new one.

“I’m perfectly fine, just I collapsed during work from being hungover and a co-worker called an ambulance and you know how expensive those things are,” Jeremy tells Matt, laughing at the end.

Jeremy sees that Matt’s still unconvinced, he sighs, “Look, Matt, I can live on my own, I can get a job, I can survive without you,” Jeremy confesses.

“Jeremy that’s not what I meant when I say you can’t _live_ with me-,” Began Matt.

“No, it’s what _I_ mean Matt. I need to move on, grow more, and I don't think I can do that with _you_ ,” Jeremy admits, trying to act like the words coming out of his mouth are chipping away at his heart.

Jeremy takes a deep breath and walks past Matt to open the door he entered just a few hours ago.

“Fuck you,” Swore Matt, not turning to look at Jeremy's leaving.

“I’m sorry,” Murmured Jeremy exiting the door.

“Wait, you dummy,” Jeremy stops and stands outside Matt’s apartment and waits, just like he did a couple days ago.

Matt quickly returns and hands Jeremy another small black flip phone, “I bought you another drug dealer phone for you today, you know because smartphones aren’t cheap,” Matt jokes not looking at Jeremy.

“text me.” And with that Matt slams the door on Jeremy, and Jeremy head back to his car and drives.

His life could be worse, but his life can _never_ get better.


	2. This life is beginning to work out

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's the beginning of Jeremy's new fever dream-like state of living, that's going to end better than anything Jeremy's ever experienced.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have never written anything this long, and it may be the death of me. Enjoy!
> 
>  
> 
> Chapter Warnings: Angst/ Panic attacks/ Swearing/ and some amount of good times.
> 
> ((This story is purely fictional and are not at all accurate to these real-life people and their real lives. This story is not a real depiction of any of the people written in it in real life.))

“Yo! Man, are you doing good?” Asks a voice knocking at the window of Jeremy’s car.

Waking up, Jeremy groans and sits up, realizing that he was sleeping face pressed down on his steering wheel. Rubbing at the sore spot on his forehead, he rolls down his window and turns to address the knocking at his window.

“Yeah no I’m fine, um thanks for the wakeup call I guess?” Jeremy says to the stranger, squinting as the sun shines brightly into his car.

“No problem, dude! I thought you were a dead man in his car,” Laughed the stranger. Jeremy opens the door and stands beside his car, looking around, Jeremy notices that the land around him is hot and dry not at all like the cold he was in the night before.

“Oh damn, you’re so small! how old are you?” Chuckles the stranger, slapping Jeremy on the shoulder.

Frowning at the strangers mocking of his height, he ducks away from the others hand, “Where am I?” Jeremy asks, confused on how his environment changed so quickly without him knowing.

“Texas baby!” The stranger shouts, swinging his arms out and around.

Jeremy signs in relief to know that he’s still in the same state, but is still confused as to where _in_ Texas he is, “What’s the closest city from here?” Jeremy asks, becoming frustrated with realizing that the stranger he’s talking too, reeks of alcohol.

“Hey dude, calm down,” slurs the stranger, sensing Jeremy’s frustration, “We’re at a rest stop, about what? An hour and a half from Austin,” The stranger admits, also not quite knowing where they are.

Jeremy’s eyes widen, quickly realizing that if that is true, he’s been driving for about five to six hours, and could’ve been asleep for the same amount, “Fuck!” Shouts Jeremy, his sudden outburst shocking the drunken stranger.

“Whoa dude, that happening?” Questions the stranger, watching as Jeremy frantically looks around his car for the phone, Matt gave him, _hopefully,_ just a day previously.

“Do you know what the date is?” Jeremy replies.

Finding the phone, Jeremy grabs the charger to his old phone and looks back towards the stranger, catching the other man looking at him like he’s got two heads.

The stranger just shrugs in response and moves out of the way as Jeremy rushes into the rest stop looking for an outlet, “You sure you’re doing good?” Asks the stranger, following Jeremy and looking down quizzically at Jeremy.

“Yes, I’m fine. I’m just very, _very_ confused,” Luckily hooking up the phone right before it dies, Jeremy sits next to where his phone is charging and sees the date and it’s been almost _two_ _days_ since he left Matt’s place. He checks the notifications and sees Matt’s number has called him _forty_ times and texted him over a _hundred_ times.

He shoos away the stranger and clicks call on Matts number, holding it up to his ear, only ringing twice before Matt picks up.

“ _I told you to fucking text me!_ ” Matt shouts without any greeting, it earning a laugh from Jeremy.

“Well hello to you too,” Jokes Jeremy, laughing again when all he hears in a light scoff from the other end.

“ _I thought you were dead, you dick!”_ Admitted Matt, Jeremy hears Matt let out a shaky sigh, “ _It’s so good to hear your voice, but I hope you know the next time I see you, you're dead,”_ Matt announces.

“Yeah, I know, I know.”

A silence begins between the two, Jeremy too afraid to say anything else, and Matt still being pissed at his best friend.

The silence is broken when the stranger comes back in, “Yo, my ride is here! Nice to meet you dude, wish you luck!” The stranger winks and runs back out and all there is a loud roar of an engine driving off.

“ _Who the hell was that?”_ Matt asks his tone not as angry as before.

“I have no idea just some guy who, _also_ thought I was dead,” Replies Jeremy rubbing the back of his sore neck, “Honestly, I _also_ have no idea where I am, either,” he continues. 

“ _Are you still in Texas?”_

“Yeah, I think I’m like an hour away from Austin.”

“ _Wow, when did you get my text?”_

Confused, Jeremy pulls the phone away from his ear and tries to think back to he remembered before getting woken up by the stranger.

“ _Jeremy? You still their man?”_ Jeremy hears Matt say.

Putting the phone back to his ear, Jeremy takes a breath before continuing, “What text? To be honest I’ve only been awake for about twenty minutes,”

“ _What! Jeremy, I’ve been texting and calling you for two days! I thought you ignoring them just to piss me off,”_ Matt blurts.

“N-No never! Look, I need to get this out of the way before I continue,” Announces Jeremy.

“ _Alright?”_

“Everything I said before I left was a lie, I’m sorry I didn’t and _don’t,_ mean anything I said,” Huffs out Jeremy, tapping his fingers on the rest stops floor, anxiously waiting for Matt’s response.

“ _Okay, then why say it?”_

“I needed to leave-, not just you but everything.,” Jeremy answers, curling his hand into a fist, “My old life ended, and I needed to start a new one. I can’t stay with you forever, it’s not fair to you,” Jeremy admits.

“ _Fuck, Jeremy if things were different I would’ve never let you leave,”_

“I know Matt, I wish for so many things to be different. But I guess that’s life, huh.” Jeremy says, a sad smile on his lips.

“ _That’s life,”_ Parrots Matt.

Clearing his throat, Jeremy’s thoughts go back to the text message Matt brought up earlier, “So, what about the text message you were talking about?” Jeremy asks.

“ _Oh yeah! I have some awesome news!”_ Bursts Matt, Jeremy hears Matt move from wherever he was and hears papers being tossed and moved around.

“What’s the news?”

“ _I have a job opportunity for you,”_ Matt admits an audible smile on his face.

“W-What already? I thought you’re pissed at me?” Jeremy asks confusion lacing his voice.

“ _I look I may still be pissed at you, but you’re my best friend and I still want the best for you,”_ Matt replies, “ _Now listen because I got to head to work soon. But my co-worker and kind of friend’s grandpa died, and in return, he now owns his grandpas home,_ ” Matt continues, excitedly.

“And what does a dead dudes house have anything to do with me?”

“ _Well Jer, my friend’s family, won’t let him sell the house due to, you know family memories and stuff? And the family told him that he’s to find someone to like permanently house-sits. You know like to watch and take care of the house,”_

“How is that even a job?” Jeremy asks, never heard of such a paradise for a job _,_ “Who’s to pay me? You work at tech shop, none of you guys make that much money,” Jeremy continues, further disbelieving Matt.

“ _Wow thanks,”_ Scoffs Matt.

“What it’s the truth, Matt!” Replies Jeremy, laughing under his breath.

“ _Whatever, my friend may not have any money, but the rest of the family does, and they have a lot of it.”_

“This is so fucking crazy, man,” Laughs Jeremy, still thinking that it’s too good to be true.

“ _So, are you gonna take the job?”_ Matt asks.

Jeremy looks around at the empty rest stop, he looks at his shitty broken car, he remembers how shit is life currently is…

“Yeah, I am.”

 

* * *

 

 

Matt told him before he hung up, that Matt’s friend apparently _already_ hired Jeremy, and told the rest of the family he’s got a guy. So, Jeremy _knows_ he’s got the job, but he still has a feeling that he’s going to regret it.

The drive to the house was nothing like Jeremy expected, all the roads were unpaved, dusty and rough on his already broken car. Jeremy thought the house was just a small cottage house with too many memories in the family, but as he drove farther and farther, _away_ from civilization, Jeremy’s anxiety and uneasiness heightened.

By the time to drove up the long, almost never-ending driveway, it was close to twelve o’clock at night. Parking his car and stepping out, Jeremy notices that the moon was out, stars visible and beautiful as always, and in that moment, he felt calm and _free_.

Remembering why he was there, Jeremy huffs and grabs his phone and charger, deciding to get the rest of his stuff when he didn’t feel like he’s about to pass out at any second.

Not bothering to lock his car, Jeremy makes his way up to the front door. Seeing a folded paper taped to the door he shakes away the feeling of déjà vu, between the note and the eviction sign on his apartment door.

He rips off the note and begins to read,

_Dear Mr. Dooley,_

_My nephew hired you to watch over my father’s childhood home, I apologize that none of us could help you settle in, I only had enough time to stop by and drop off this letter. I’d like for you to know that this house has been in the family for over a hundred years, and it means a lot to all of us. In my fathers will, a said he set aside money for whoever is to fix up the house. Hope it’s enough to help pay for any repairs, and if not, every month you’ll be sent a check for taking care of the house, with that I’d like for you to write to me at the end of each month, detailing what is occurring in the house. Also, there is a small store about twenty minutes north, with everything you could possibly need, and a mailbox to send and receive your mail. Please take care, thanks again._

_~Ms. Burns._

Feeling only slightly better about what he’s done, Jeremy neatly folds back up the note and shoves it in his jacket. Finding that the door was already unlocked, made him question if this house really means as much as the note said, but then again who the hell would be out here beside him.

Stepping into the house, he’s not surprised to find it near pitch black except, for the exception small of the amount of light the moon gives off through the window. Jeremy makes himself over to what he thinks is a sofa, and lays down on it, done with his day full of driving and done with his sudden change of scenery. He wraps his arms around himself, in the attempt to keep his warmth. Sighing he makes a promise to himself, that tomorrow he’d start the attempt to straighten out his life.

 

 

Waking up with a shout, Jeremy’s body bolts up, his hands immediately grabbing ahold of the couches cushion, attempting to ground himself back into reality and to stable his breathing.

Blinking away the memories of his dream, Jeremy slowly releases his grip on the couch and takes off his jacket, it making him feel like he’s _suffocating_.

Shakily rising to his feet, Jeremy heads to what he hopes is the kitchen. Jeremy rubs at his throat, feeling as raw as it did when he woke up in the hospital. Praying for running water, Jeremy turns on the sink, and quickly cups his hands under the facet.

Frowning as his hands aren’t helping with him with his thirst as much as he wanted them too, he rummages through a nearby cabinet and grabs the closest cup he saw, and fills it up before chugging it.

Jeremy goes for another glass but is stopped when an unknown figure rams his body into the counter. Dropping his cup and hearing it shatter, he feels someone forcing his arms behind his back and harshly pressing his face into the countertop.

“Who the fuck are you?” Demands the person behind him, pressing Jeremy’s face harder into the countertop.

Feeling trapped, Jeremy tries to escape the other's grip, only for the grip to tighten on his arms, making him yell out in pain.

“Michael, what the bloody hell is going on-, Who the fuck is he?” Shouts a new foreign sounding voice, hearing what sounds like for people running downstairs, Jeremy’s breath quickens in panic and he tries harder to escape.

“No fucking clue Gav,” grunts out his attacker, forcing Jeremy back down as he almost frees himself.

Hearing the other footsteps stop near him, Jeremy makes himself go limp, finally realizing that he _can’t win this fight_.

“What happened? We heard shouting-,” Jeremy’s breath halts, knowing full well that he is completely one hundred percent, fucked.

Feeling the hands that grip his head and arms release him, Jeremy exhales in relief that gets cut short as his body gets thrown down onto his back, a foot on his chest pinning him down to the floor.

“What are you doing here?” Barks out the original voice, putting more pressure down on his chest.

Jeremy breaths heavily as his vision starts to swim in and out of focus, all he sees is a furious looking man with glasses framing his curly hair looking down at him. Looking around he sees about five other blurry faces, all of them keeping distance.

“ _Fuck_ ,” He groans out, choking on the rest of his sentence as more pressure is added.

“Michael, let off the man a bit, he looks as red as a balloon,” Says a new voice, sounding very nonchalant.

“Looks like he’s gonna pop like one too,” Jokes the foreign voice.

“Not the time, Gavin,” Said a new deep voice.

“Sorry, Jack,” Jeremy hears, _Gavin_? Say.

Feeling the pressure on his chest loosen up, the conversation continues, it sounding muted and far away as Jeremy takes deep breaths of oxygen making it easier for his eyes to stop swimming and focuses on who the others in the room with him. In seeing that the five blurry faces are all men, makes Jeremy feel uneasy. 

Jeremy looks upside down, as a large, ginger-bearded, and older looking man bickers with a scrawny, big nosed, younger man, with another young man in glasses and a purple hoodie laughing at the interaction. Jeremy looks at another older man, in doing so Jeremy accidentally makes eye contact with the man’s piercing blue eyes and quickly looks away.

“Who are you, and what are you doing here?” Asks an older man with a dark beard, entering Jeremy’s sight. Jeremy looks both in awe and in fear of the man’s heavily tattooed arms.

Looking over to see the bearded guy and the big nosed guy conversation end, Jeremy gulps and looks back up at the tattoo guy, choking slightly as the man’s food puts pressure back onto his chest.

“I-I’m Jeremy Dooley, I’m s-supposed to take care of this h-house,” Admits Jeremy, wheezing as the end as his breath starts to cut short.

Watching the others look at each other in confusion, the tattooed man silently tells the man to step off his chest. Immediately Jeremy sits up and pushes himself as close as he can get into the lower cabinets. 

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” angrily asks the curly haired man that was previously holding him down.

“I-I was hired by the nephew of Ms _._ Burns, to watch over t-this house due to the owner dying,” Jeremy cautiously confesses.

In doing so, Jeremy watches as an unexplained expression of horror and sadness flashes across each of the men’s faces. The tattooed man looks back down at Jeremy, a knowing look in his eye.

“When did the owner die, do you know?” Speaks up the other bearded man, stepping closer to Jeremy.

“I d-don’t know I just got the job yesterday, sorry,” Jeremy apologizes.

Recoiling as the curly haired man throwing a punch at the cabinet door, causing a hole to appear. Jeremy jumps up and moves away from the other men.

“Calm down Michael! Your freaking out the poor lad,” Chided the big-nosed man.

“Calm down? _Burnie_ is fucking dead, and we’re probably gonna get kicked out!” Argues _Michael,_ Jeremy thinks.

The other men all looked shocked as that possibility hits them like a brick. Turning towards Jeremy, they all look expectantly at him, “Jeremy, right?” Asks the tattooed man.

Nodding hesitantly, Jeremy wraps his arms around himself, not liking the spotlight being held on him.

“ _Jeremy_ , are you here to kick us out?” Slowly asks the tattooed man.

“I-I don’t think so, I wasn’t told that others were living here,” Replies Jeremy, confused on what the hell Is going on.

Jeremy watches as the other bearded man go up and whisper in the tattooed man’s ear, them both making side glances towards Jeremy. Seeing the tattooed man nod, and the other back away again, Jeremy’s hands start to shake in anticipation.

“Let’s…Continue talking in the living room, alright?” Announces the bearded man, looking around at the others earning a nod from them, before looking at Jeremy, “Is that alright?” He repeats.

“Yeah,” And with that Jeremy follows the others back into the living room, without a second thought.

 

 

In returning to the living room, Jeremy examines the room closely only to his surprise spots a large flat screened Tv with two brand new Xboxes underneath. Mentally crossing these guys off as squatters, Jeremy sits down, grabbing his neglected jacket and putting it back on. 

Observing as the other men sit on different chairs and sofas, all keeping a distance, except for the big-nosed man plopping himself down, just a few inches away from Jeremy. Inching away from the other next to him on the couch, Jeremy smushes himself against the armrest making a distance himself.

“Scoot over more Gavin, your scaring him,” Said the bearded man, smiling apologetically at Jeremy.

“What! You all are more likely to be scaring him than me!” Gawks _Gavin_ , mumbling quietly as he moves away from Jeremy.

Ending the slightly uneasy quietness that started in the room, the tattooed man claps his hands together and stands, “Let’s start with names, your Jeremy correct?” He asks.

“Yeah, J-Jeremy Dooley,”

 “Cool, that next to you is Gavin,” Points out the tattooed man, “He’s quite the British prick, so don’t mind him much,” He continues, smirking.

“Oi! I’m a delight,” protests Gavin, glaring at the tattooed man.

“Yeah, yeah whatever you say, buddy,” Laughs the tattooed man, “That’s Jack,” Continues the tattooed man, nodding at the bearded man, who’s now _Jack_. The man just waves and smiles at Jeremy.

“That over there is Ray,” Continues the man, pointing at the man in the purple hoodie, who is currently fiddling with his phone.

“Sup,” Greets Ray not even looking up, Jeremy nods back.

“That feisty motherfucker is Michael,” Smirked the tattooed man, wrapping his arm around the curly haired man’s shoulders. 

“Whatever, I fucking saved our asses,” Michael grumbles, crossing his arms.

“Sure, and that's-,”

“I’m Ryan, it’s nice to meet you Jeremy,” Interrupts the blue-eyed man, who’s been silent since the beginning.

“Nice to meet you too,” Jeremy replies.

Jeremy watches as the tattooed man points to himself, “And I’m Geoff,” Greets the man.

Jeremy’s body freezes at the mention of his ex-managers name, and offers a weak smile towards the other men, “Cool, nice to meet all of you,” Jeremy says.

“Now tell us why you’re here,” Blurts out Michael.

“I told you, I was hired by the nephew of Ms _._ Burns, and I’m supposed to take care of the house,” Jeremy tells the man, not knowing what else to say, “I had no idea that there were _six_ dudes living here, and I don’t think anyone _else_ does either,” Jeremy admits.

Jeremy raises an eyebrow in confusion as all the men sigh in relief, “A-Are you guys like hiding from the law?” Jeremy questions.

“Not exactly?” Geoff says while the others nod in agreement.

Baffled and confused, Jeremy looks at the others hinting for an explanation, “What even does that mean?” He asks.

“We’re not hiding from the law, just more like people in general,” Answers Ray, looking up from his phone.

“That’s just your reason, x-ray,” Teases Gavin, earning a middle finger from Ray.

 “Let’s just say our _existence_ is sometimes hard to handle,” States Ryan.

“What?” Laughs Jeremy, getting more and more confused on who these people exactly are.  

“Ever heard of the seven deadly sins?” Asks Jack, looking at Jeremy, a serious expression on his face.

“Yeah? Like lust, pride and gluttony, all that shit?” puzzled Jeremy, not expecting that response. 

“Sure, I guess you can say were that?” Geoff answers, shyly looking at Jeremy.

“ _What?_ ”

“Ugh, He’s never going to fucking believe us!” Grunts out Michael, standing up from his seat.

“Wait, what, fuck! Are you telling me that _you’re_ the seven deadly sins?” Shouts out Jeremy, copying Michaels actions.

“Well some of them,” Gavin says, shrugging.

“What?!”

“There’s more than just one of _each_ sin! For example; there can be like thousands of prides or lusts, were just _one_ of those thousands.” Explains Ryan, also now standing.

Taken back by all the new knowledge, Jeremy flops back onto the couch and roughly rubs at his face, in frustration and confusion.

“So, you believe us?” Jack questions.  

“Yeah, I guess,” Jeremy replies, “Then which sins are you? I mean theirs only six of you,” Continues Jeremy, moving his hands back into his lap.

“I’m Envy,” Supplies Jack.

“Sloth, all the way,” Says Ray.

“I’m Pride,” Answers Ryan.

“Wrath, if you haven’t already guessed,” Michael admits, a sly smirk playing across his face.

“Lust, baby,” Gavin says, winking at Jeremy, making the other look away.

“Gluttony, or Greed I’m somewhat both,” Shrugs Geoff, “That’s why theirs only kinda only six of us,” He continues.

“This is so fucking weird,” Jeremy comments, “I guess living here with six demon guys, is better than living alone,” he admits.

“What? Who says you’re staying here,” Michael snaps, looking at the others expectantly.

“ _Michael_ ,”

“No, Burnie _gave_ us this house,” Michael continues, glaring at Jeremy, making the other shrink under his gaze, “We have a right to this house, _he_ doesn’t. For all we know he could be lying about everything,” Michael finishes.

“N-No, look I have a letter,” Jeremy says, quickly taking the note from his jacket, fumbling as he hands it over to Michael, “I _promise_ I’m not lying,” Jeremy promises, watching as Michael takes the note with distrust.

The other men crowded behind Michael to also read the note, Jeremy watches as the others faces fall while their eyes scan the note.

“Alright, so you weren’t lying, cool,” Michael says, shoving the note back towards Jeremy, only to be taken by Geoff.

Sighing in relief, Jeremy then glares up at Michael, “That’s what I’ve been saying,” He huffs.

Taking his eyes off the letter, seemingly read it for the second time, Geoff looks up at the others, “Seems like Burnie’s kids grew up,” Geoff says, giving the note over to Jack.

“I mean it’s been, what fifty years?” Questions Ryan.

Blinking away his surprise, Jeremy looks over to Ryan, “Wow, how long did you know, _Burnie_ ,” Asks Jeremy.

“Hell, more than fifty,” Answers Jack, rubbing his beard in thought.

“He was like, what? In his late twenty’s when we met him,” replies Geoff, earning a shrug from Michael.

“Fuck probably, it was a long, _long_ time ago,” Adds Michael.

“Aw, bugger off it, it feels like it happened just minutes ago,” argues Gavin.

“That’s because you don’t know how time works,” Snarks Michael, tapping his finger on Gavin’s head, earning a squawk from the other.

“And when did Burnie give you his house?” Jeremy's questions intrigued on what the history is with these people.

“The day he retired from our crew,” Answers Geoff. 

“Crew?”

“Back in the 1950’s?” Continues Geoff, looking at the others for help.

“We ran what you call a mafia, we did heists, fraud, gambling,” Says Ryan, counting off his fingers.

“Don’t forget the occasional assassinations,” Adds on Ray, “Yep that too,” Replies Geoff.

“What about the time we tried to do a drug-trafficking ring? That did not turn out well,” Continues Jack.

“I still blame Michael for that ending up for how it did,” Says Ryan, his tone joking.

“Hey! You would’ve shot the guy too, if he called you a ‘petite child with anger issues’,” Argues Michael, clearly still not over the event.

“Well you are _wrath_ , and you _do_ look young,” Jeremy puts in, holding in his laughter.

Looking shocked at Jeremy input, Michael just crosses his arms and pouts as the others and Jeremy start laughing.

After the laughter dissipates, Geoff wipes a tear away with his finger and looks at Jeremy a smile on his face, before looking at the other men, “So what do you guys say? Can Jeremy stay and do his job?” Geoff asks, making the room go silent.

“I say hell yeah, but you know, all together we need to make the decision,” Geoff adds.

“Absolutely,” chimes in Gavin, smiling at Jeremy.

“Sure, he seems like an o-kay dude,” Agrees Ray.

“Can’t say no to another person _willing_ to hang around us,” Ryan says.

“Totally,” Jack beams.

“Michael?” Ask Geoff, looking at the still slightly pouting Michael.

“Yeah, whatever he seems cool,” Michael admits, dropping his arms to his side, giving an almost hidden smile towards Jeremy.

“So, we all agree to you staying, promise not to go around telling others _what_ we are and _where_ we are right?” Questions Geoff.

“I swear,” Jeremy reassures, looking at the others he smiles, glad for something for once that’s seemingly okay, start to happen to him. 

 

 

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­ “So, you’re telling us that you just woke up outside of Austin, with no memory what’s so ever of getting here _and_ no clue as to _why_ you drove here?” Jack questions, looking puzzled.

“I guess when you say it that way, yeah,” Jeremy shrugs, “I mean _maybe_ I looked at my texts and just drove here not caring?” Jeremy guesses.

“That’s utterly bonkers,” Blurts Gavin, all eyes turning away from Jeremy to him, “What? It’s weird,” justifies Gavin.

“I do have to agree with Gav, I mean we may not be _human_ , but that’s _really_ weird _,_ ” Agrees Michael.

 “Do you remember anything before waking up in the rest stop? Like when you left your town or when you got into your car?” Asks Ryan.

Tensing slightly, not hundred percent comfortable with divulging into his past, _especially_ not with people who are practically _strangers_. Jeremy just shakes his head in response, thinking that it’s not the time nor _people_ to talk with.

“Freaky,” Ray says, seeming very interested in Jeremy’s missing memory.

Understanding the weirdness of his departure and reappearance hours away from home, without any memory of it or as to _why_ he’s there _before_ getting caught up with Matt. Jeremy just silently agrees with others, waiting for the conversation to change topics from ‘yes, my life is weird and shitty’ to something else _not_ about his past.  

Sensing a change in Jeremy’s attitude about his memory loss, Geoff stands up with a stretch, a question in mind.

“Okay…. Well, did Burnie’s kid tell you any more about the house, besides in the note?” Geoff asks pointing at the note, now sitting in front of Jeremy on a coffee table.

“No, just that it’s old and what I got from the drive here, is that it’s _far away_ from civilization,” Jeremy says, laughing at the end, remembering how far he is from where he _is_ and where he started _from_.

“She did mention the town closes to here,” Points out Michael.

“In the note, she says it’s just a small store, are they separate places?” Jeremy asks.

“I bet she’s probably never been there and she just used like google maps or something,” scoffs Ryan.

“Do you guys go into town often?” Questions Jeremy, thinking they stayed away from human eyes.

“You think we’ve just stayed _here_ for the past sixty years?” Laughs Geoff.

“Ugh well _no_ , I-I just thought you wanted not to be known?” Stutters out Jeremy.

“Yeah, a little bit, but we still need food, clothes, you know demons still _want_ to have basic human necessity’s,” Admits Jack, “By the way that reminds me that we have to go on a town run soon,” adds Jack.

Jeremy watches as Gavin perks up at the mention of going to town, “Ray, Michael and I can go,” Gavin says.

“Why do I have to go?” mumbles Ray, clearly living up to his sloth-ness.

“Because as much as I hate to say it, you might be the most responsible lad right now,” Admits Geoff, both Jack, and Ryan nodding along.

“I’m the oldest though,” Argues Michael.

“We’re all old Micool,” Teases Gavin, squawking as he dodges Michael’s punch towards his shoulder.

“You guys can go later, it’s still early in the day,” Ryan tells them.

 “Do you have anything else with you? Or do you just that that old jacket of yours?” Asks Geoff, flicking at the jacket that Jeremy is wearing.

“Uh, no, a-apparently I grabbed my stuff before I left?” lies Jeremy, not wanting to tell the other guys that he was previously evicted from his apartment.

All noting Jeremy’s hesitation, Jack nudges Geoff in the side to not let the room fall into an awkward silence, and for things to get going.

“Okay great! Ryan, Michael you go help grab his stuff,” Geoff tells the two, “Gav, Ray. Help me grab some extra blankets and pillows. Jack if you want you can start writing up a ‘shit-we-need’ list for later,” Announces Geoff.

Slightly amazed as all the others start to do exactly what they're asked of, with the exception of Ray who’s purposefully taking long to get up, before Gavin drags him up the rest of the way.

Jeremy gets up and is met with Ryan and Michael both looking semi-ready to aid him, as the others already have exited from the living room and into other parts of the house.

“So, where’s your shit at,” speaks up Michael, earning an eye roll from Ryan.

“Outside in my car, last night I was too tired to grab anything,” Replies Jeremy heading towards the front door, “Also, do you guys know your door was unlocked?” questions Jeremy, exiting the house with both Ryan and Michael following behind him.

“It always is,” Says Ryan.

“As you can tell we don’t get many visitors,” Laughs Michael.

Softly laughing along with Michael, Jeremy goes to open his trunk to grab his bags, “I guess that was the same thought process I had last night, didn’t even lock my car,” adds Jeremy, grabbing one of his three duffle bags.

“Man,” starts Michael rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly, “Not to be a major asshole, but is this all your shit? Because it’s kinda pathetic,” he continues.

“I agree with Michael, you said you packed _all_ your stuff is this really all of it?” Asks Ryan, looking at Jeremy.

“I guess I must’ve left some stuff, I can always get a friend to mail it to me,” Lies Jeremy, fiddling with his duffle bag, feeling slightly ashamed of himself.

“Sounds like a good plan Jeremy,” Ryan says smiling at Jeremy, before grabbing a duffle bag motioning for Michael to do the same.

“Thanks,” Jeremy says back, as he closes his trunk and starts to head back into the house without another word.

 

 

Jack goes through the kitchen and begins to write down stuff for the lads to get when they go into town later. Smiling softly as he hears Geoff familiar frustrated sigh enter the kitchen, Jack gazes over at Geoff, laughing as the other man wraps his arms around his midsection and tiredly groans into Jacks' shoulder.

“I need a drink,” Complains Geoff.

Dropping the list on the countertop, Jack turns to fully return Geoff’s hug, “I think we all need one after this morning,” Jack agrees, softly pushing Geoff off as he reaches for the list again.   

“Where’s Ray and Gavin?  Are you making them do all the work?” Jacks asks, starting to rummage through the fridge, frowning at the stench of expired milk.

“Kinda, Gavin grabbed nearly every extra blanket in the house as did Ray with pillows, and now I think their planning to make a pillow fort with leftover bedding,” Says Geoff, rubbing a hand over his face.

“Well does Jeremy get some kind of bedding?” Laughs Jack, turning back at an unamused Geoff.

“Yeah, I put some in the guest room before I left,” Geoff replies, sitting down at the kitchen table.

A silence starts in the kitchen both men thinking the same thing not knowing how to say it. Jack goes to sit across from Geoff and folds his hands together on top of his list.

“I think the kid, _Jeremy,_ is in some kind of trouble,” Admits Geoff, slowly like he’s worried about Jacks reaction.

Signing as he unfolds his hands, Jack nods, “I agree, there’s _something_ up with him either it’s something to do with his past _or_ his memory loss. But there is something definitely up,” Jack says, frowning.

“Also, he’s taking us being _literal_ fucking demons _,_ _real_ well,” begins Geoff, “I mean it took Burnie months, hell maybe even years before he _completely_ believed us,” he adds, standing up from the table.

“Maybe he’s seen a lot?” Offers Jack, eyes following Geoff. Sighing as he watches the other as he opens a cabinet and pulls out a half-empty liquor bottle and a shot glass.

“Did you see the kids’ eyes when he saw the Tv? The Xboxes? The kid may have seen stuff, but he’s _not_ used to seeing people with money,” Geoff says, grunting as he takes a shot.

“You think he’s gonna steal from us?” Questions Jack, not an ounce of worry in his voice.

Downing another shot, and frowns when Jack gets up and takes both the bottle and shot glass from him, putting back where he got them from, Geoff doesn’t try to get them back already knowing that he’s an idiot for taking shots in the first place.

“No,” huffs Geoff, “I just think that the kid might have some serious problems, that might cause some trouble in the future,” Answers Geoff, already have put trust into Jeremy just by letting him stay in _their_ house.

Leaning against the counter, Geoff crosses his tattooed arms over his chest and looks over to Jack who’s doing the same, a downcast expression on his face.

“What’s wrong?” Geoff asks Jack, becoming worried.

“Burnie’s dead,” Sadly laughs Jack, “And now we have let a complete stranger live in _our_ house, with _us_ , and I don’t know if we’re going to regret our decision or _not_ ,” Jack continues, meeting Geoff’s concerned gaze.

“I don’t, _yet_. Maybe never, but it’s only been like two hours and I already like the kid,” Says Geoff, “I _know_ you do, Ryan and the lads are seeming to warm up to him, but I know they also know trouble when it appears in front of them, so I’m not all that worried,” He continues, relaxing his arms to the side. 

Jack agrees, and they change the subject knowing they're going to talk more about it in later times. The two sins continue to talk about what the need from town, only to be interrupted by the front door slamming oven and hitting the wall, only to roll their eyes as a loud ‘Sorry!’ comes from Michael.

Exiting the kitchen, they beat Gavin and Ray heading down the stairs to help, they all raise a brow in confusion as they only see three duffle bags in the arms of the others.

“Where’s the rest of your stuff?” Ray asks, looking past the men and outside, expecting them to head back and grab more.

“I-,” Jeremy starts.

“He left some stuff back his old place,” Interrupts Ryan, “He’s going to get a friend to mail the rest.”

“Yeah, that’s it,” says Jeremy, readjusting the duffle bag hanging off his shoulder.

The others, besides Ryan and Michael, look at each other in confusion, before Jack shakes his head and turns to Jeremy, “Since you have no idea where anything in this house is, I think you need a good old house tour,” Jack says.

Relaxing at the sound of learning more about where he’s staying, Jeremy smiles and holds his hand out, “Please, lead the way,” Jeremy agrees.

Jack looks at Ryan and Michael, “Here can you please take Jeremy’s duffle, and we’ll meet you in the guest room after the tour,” Jack politely asks. 

“Here can I take it?” Gavin offers.

“Uh sure?” Jeremy says, reluctantly handing his duffle over to Gavin, “I can just take it up too, we could just start the tour from there,” Argues Jeremy, starting to feel like he’s being pitied upon.

“Nah, it’s no biggie _Lil_ '  _J,” Gavin says, earning a confused look from everyone._

“ _Lil_ '  _J?” Questions Ryan._

“Yeah, you know because he’s short and his names Jeremy,” explains Gavin, hefting the duffle on to his shoulder.

They all look at Jeremy up and down, then start to laugh, but not rudely but just that they didn’t realize that Jeremy was in fact short. Jeremy just gives them a weak smile not knowing if their laughter is to make fun of him, due to that’s what joking on his height turns into.

“Alright _Lil_ '  _J_ _, I’ll show you the house,” Jack says the first to stop laughing._

_Jeremy just nods silently, feeling that the new nickname is an insult that is sure to stick for a long time._

Michael, Gavin and Ryan pass by them to get to the stairs as they take Jeremy’s belongings to the guest room, leaving Geoff, Jack, Ray and Jeremy at the foot of the steps.

“Let’s start on the first floor, theirs the kitchen, theirs two bedrooms turned offices, a bathroom-,” Jack trails off, and Jeremy zones out the rest and begins to pick at his arm, thinking maybe these people might _just_ be like everyone else.

 

 

“The kid’s bags are so light,” observes Ryan, setting down Jeremy’s duffle on the bed.

“I wonder what he has in them?” Questions Michael, putting the duffle next to Ryan’s, “It has to be like clothes and shit, nothing else can be that light,” he continues.

Gavin tosses his duffle onto Jeremy’s bed, making the other two flinch slightly, “Its light, can’t be anything too valuable in them,” says Gavin, shrugging.

“We still shouldn’t throw our guests bags around,” Chides Ryan.

“No so much guest as, _roommate_ Rye-bread,” Gavin replies, “Seems like he’s our very own stay at home fixer-upper,” adds Gavin.

“And that may be the only thing we get out of having Jeremy staying here,” Michael says, still feeling that there’s something off about Jeremy. 

“You bully, he’s still a human being,” Gavin argues.

“I bet he’s just staying here for the money,” says Michael, “Doesn’t seem he’s keen to making friends with us,” continues Michael picking up on Jeremy’s standoffish behavior, “And it’s not like we can fix up the house by ourselves. With that I _know_ we’re not going to get a new friend of out this situation Gav,” Finishes Michael, earning a glare from Gavin.  

Silently listening to the lads’ conversation Ryan thinks back to when part of the roof nearly collapsed months ago, with not wanting to contact any official contractor they just went up there themselves and slapped on some wood fixing it for now, and if they know anything about fixing up houses, is that it’s going to collapse sooner or later if not done by somebody who knows what they’re doing.

“Jeremy may be here to fix up the house, but _I_ think that’s not the only thing he offers,” Speaks up Ryan, making the younger sin turn to look at him, “Sure he seems skittish, but we are _demons_ Michael, _and_ he’s only known us for only _two hours_ , don’t think it’s quite the time to make lasting opinions on the kid,” Ryan tells Michael.

Michael nods to Ryan, understanding the others advice but not yet wanting to follow it _completely_. But before Michael can add onto anything the others and Jeremy walk into the room.

 

 

Reaching the second floor, Jeremy begins to come out of his own mind as the others start bickering with one another, making Jeremy smile just slightly. Confused at there being only two actual bedrooms upstairs and one of them being _his_ , Jeremy just ignores it thinking that maybe there’s some other place they sleep at, but then he reminds himself that the other men are _demons_ and might not even _need_ to sleep.

Continuing with the tour, Jeremy takes note of some breaking steps on the stairs, peeling wallpaper, and the ceilings starting to get dark spots he recognizes as water damage. Taking a mental count of what needs to be done to the house, Jeremy follows along with the others until they reach his room, where they meet up with Ryan, Michael, and Gavin, seemingly just ending their own conversation.

The other sins sense the tenseness in the room between Michael and Ryan. Ray coughs to further announce their arrival into the room.

“Hey! How was the tour?” Beams Gavin, looking at Jeremy.

“Fine,” Jeremy says, “Much bigger than I thought it was going to be,” Laughs Jeremy.

“No questions then?” Asks Geoff, knowing that the two-bedroom thing would be a question of _his_.         

“Nope, but I did see a lot of things needing to be repaired,” Admits Jeremy, “Just to get an idea, what else is needing to be fixed?” asks Jeremy, wanting to get started on working on the house as soon as he can.

“The roof,” Says Ryan.

“What about it? Does it have a hole or something?” Questions Jeremy, knowing that many things can be wrong with a roof.

“Before we continue, can I ask something, Jeremy?” Asks Jack.

“Yeah,” replies Jeremy.

“What exactly do you know about fixing houses, have you been a contractor before?” Wonders Jack.

“To be honest Jeremy, we don’t _know_ shit,” Geoff adds, laughing.

A little baffled by six guys not knowing anything, not even six ­ _demons_ knowing how to simply fix a common house problem, Jeremy just scoff a little, surprised that _him_ a simple human man knows more about something that some of the seven deadly sins don't.

“Yeah, I worked as a carpenter for about a year or two learned most of the basics and some more of the more complex shit, like roofs,” Admits Jeremy, feeling slightly proud of himself.

“What about a near collapsing roof?” Asks Ryan, picking up on Jeremy’s self-pride, it almost visibly radiating from him. 

 But just as Jeremy’s confidence rose it falls.

“I-Uh, honestly don’t know,” Says Jeremy, not knowing anything about fixing a collapsing roof, especially not by himself.

Frowning as Jeremy’s self-pride plummets, Ryan watches as Jeremy scrambles for another solution.

“I could look it up? I mean Google might have something,” Jeremy offers.

Jeremy laughs nervously as all the sins just groan in annoyance, everyone never thinking of just to look up a solution to their roof problem that’s been haunting the back of their minds for months.

“Bloody genius _Lil_ '  _J!” Gavin blurts, grabbing Jeremy’s shoulders._

Jeremy cringes a little as Gavin’s grasp and use of his nickname, but smiles in confusion to cover it up, “What? Are you guys telling me you never looked up how to fix a roof?” Questions Jeremy, laughing at the others just nod.

“My god, well if you hook me up with a computer and tools I can start right away,”

 

 

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­They all find themselves back in the living room, Jeremy clacking away at a computer trying to find a reliable source to follow and fix the roof, getting help from Ray as Jeremy keeps accidentally downloading things that he shouldn’t. The others loudly playing video games that Jeremy distantly recognizes, creating an atmosphere in the room that feels relaxed and domestic, something Jeremy hasn’t felt since he left Matt’s house.

Ray laughs as Jeremy clicks on an ad banner as it sends him to a restricted site, ‘It’s so easy to click on! It happens’ Jeremy argues, Ray just laughs harder never have met a human like Jeremy, but then Ray thinks that he hasn’t really met a lot of humans but he’s fine with the fact.

Michael throws a controller to the ground out of rage, continuing to spew out words of rage at the game as the tv screen flashes ‘Game Over’ again and again, as the other men watching laugh their asses off.

“Did you fucking see that? He came out of nowhere!” Shouts out Michael, angrily dropping himself on the couch as Jack just pats him on the shoulder, smiling.

“I wish we got that on camera,” Says Ryan, still laughing.

Geoff picks up the discarded controller on the ground and presses restart, beginning to play himself, “Your even worse at this game then Gavin is,” Geoff admits chuckling as both Michael and Gavin angrily protest.

Jack looks past the four as they start bickering with one another and sees Ray and Jeremy messing around on the laptop, “How’s it going with the roof?” Jack asks, stopping the bickering.

“Good, besides Jeremy downloading every virus that pops up on screen,” Laughs Ray.

“They’re right in front of my face! They block what I need to click on,” Restates Jeremy, “But, I did find a video of a guy talking about collapsing roofs,” says Jeremy.

“Put it on up here,” mentions Gavin pointing to the tv screen, “Then we can all watch it and learn the ways of a carpenter,” he continues.

Unclear on what Gavin is asking, Jeremy looks over to Ray a puzzled expression on his face, making Ray throw his head back in laughter.

“What’s so funny?” Michael asks.

“I don’t think Jeremy understands technology,” Wheezes Ray, reaching over and taking the controller from Geoff mid-game.

Exiting the game ignoring Geoff cry, and opening YouTube, “What’s the video called Jeremy?” Ray asks.      

“How to correctly fix a collapsing roof, with ‘correctly’ in all caps,” Jeremy answers, amazed that the Xbox works similar to the laptop.

Ray quickly searches the video and selects the first one that pops up. The video's footage shaky, the audio so quiet it’s almost muted.

Ryan goes to turn up the sound, turning the tv’s volume all the way up to a hundred before they can slightly hear a man’s voice explaining something about his roof being broken.

“Ugh, why does this look like it was filmed in the eighties?” Snorts Michael, throwing his arms behind the couch.

"Probably because it was and whoever posted it, stole it for views,” Admits Geoff.

They all continue to watch the video, pausing it when the guy in the video says something wrong or screws up so they can laugh and mock it. Finishing the video Jeremy stands up and looks at the other guys fully relaxed on the various couches.

“I don’t think that man really knew all that much as fixing things,” Jeremy concludes, having the others chuckle and nod in agreement.

“He called the hammer a hard pounder!” Gavin exclaims flailing his arms out, “Even I would never call a hammer that,” says Gavin.

“Yeah, don’t think we should be listening to that man’s advice all too much,” Proposed Jack.

“No, definitely not,” agrees Ryan,” We’d be better off winging it again,” he concludes.

“He had the right tools, but not the ability to do it, which is what I kind of have, from looking it up,” Jeremy says, a little hesitant to start fixing the roof.

Geoff stands making Gavin who was curled next to him, flop over onto where Geoff previously sat. Looking at the time, Geoff sighs as the clock reads ‘2:09’, thinking to himself that the lads should go into town soon, the tattooed sin looks down at the others.

“It’s getting late and knowing you three you’ll take a couple hours to get in and out of town. So, you guys should head out soon,” announces Geoff.

“Do you think Jeremy should go with? I bet we don’t have everything he needs,” Jack suggest, knowing that they have some tools, but not really any wood to repair it with.

“If he wants,” Geoff says shrugging at Jeremy.

“I will,” Jeremy chimes, “I only really need like tools and wood, is they’re like a hardware store around?” He asks.  

“There is, it's across the road from the grocery shop,” Gavin replies, excited that Jeremy’s coming along.

Remembering that he has near nothing money wise to pay for his supplies, Jeremy thinks back to the note saying that there was some money set aside for fixing up the house, but _not_ saying where the money was located.

“Um, in the note from Ms. Burns, she said that there was some money that her dad, _Burnie_ set aside to fix the house?” Says Jeremy, “Would any of you guys know where it is?” He asks.  

Simultaneously, Ryan, Geoff, and Michael all look at each other with wide eyes, before turning to Jeremy with a guilty expression.

“Yeah…. about that,” Ryan drawls out, gaining the other three sins attention.

“We spent it,” Michael admits.

“On what?” Jeremy questions, thinking that he won’t be able to afford what he needs.

Geoff body cringes up and looks over to Jack, “Hey remember when I bought our car?” He says smiling guiltily.

“ _No_ ,” Jack breaths out.

“That was a long time ago,” Ray observes.

“ _That_ was years ago, Geoff, we had a lot more money back then, then we do now,” Points out Jack.

“It was the year when we had that private detective following our every move,” Speaks Ryan getting up from his seat, “Remember he somehow figured out how to track us down by the money we made from our crew days,” Reminds Ryan.

“And we needed a car,” Michael says trying to justify spending the money, “It sucked walking to town, especially when you have Ray _and_ Gavin whining in your ear,” Michael adds.

“Rude Micool, Ray is the sin of sloth as it seems you’ve forgotten,” Snarks back Gavin, smirking.

Jack sighs as he begins to understand that taking Jeremy’s fixing-up money was used, he glances over at the Jeremy, watching as the other is looking awkwardly at his twiddling thumbs.

“Sorry about the money Jeremy, we’ll pay for the stuff you need,” Jack reassures, sensing a large burst of envy or jealousy coming off Jeremy before it quickly fades leaving Jeremy to look up at him a terribly hidden guilty expression on his face.       

“No, it’s fine I got enough money to buy what I need for now,” Jeremy argues, “Ms. Burns will send me a check soon enough anyway,” Reassures Jeremy.

Hesitantly agreeing to, Jack then goes to retrieve his note from earlier. Geoff starts listing off rules for the lads that they’ve heard for years now, Jeremy excuses himself and goes upstairs to retrieve his wallet from his duffle. Jeremy sighs sadly as he counts his last bills it only adding up to barely a hundred dollars, hoping it’s enough to buy what he needs he shoves his wallet into his jacket pocket and quickly makes his way back down.

Seeing the others already having their shoes and thin jackets on and waiting at the front door, Jeremy frowns hoping he didn’t make the others wait too long.

“Took you long enough,” Michael says readjusting his beanie on his head, earning a glare from Geoff as Jack hands over the list to Ray, the sin pocketing the list and giving Jack a mock salute.

“Ready to go on your first lad shopping trip, Lil’J?” Gavin asks.

“Oh, is he a lad now?” Questions Ryan, now wondering exactly how old Jeremy is.     

 “Exactly how old are you Jeremy?” Asks Geoff, voicing Ryan’s thoughts.

“Twenty-five,”

“Geez, you’re so young,” Jack says.

“We could all be your great-great-grandfather,” Jokes Geoff, laughing off the shock of Jeremy’s age.

Hoping that he didn’t make things weird with his age, Jeremy quietly laughs along with Geoff, awkwardly rubbing his arm.

“Anyways,” Blurts out Michael, his hand on the front door, “We should get going, if you need anything else just text us,” He continues.

“Right, keep safe and _please_ for the love of _god_ stick to the fucking list. I can’t have another condom bomb in this house,” Geoff pleads, looking at all the lads.

“ _Condom Bomb?_ ” Jeremy whispers to himself, confused.

“Eh, we’ll explain it to you later,” Jack tells Jeremy.

Michael opens the door and shoves out Ray and Gavin, Jeremy following them non-the less, “No promises Geoffrey!” Michael calls out as he slams the door shut behind him. A muffled shout of ‘God-Damnit Michael’ coming from Geoff.

“Bloody hell, Michael, do you always have to do that,” Laughs Gavin, following Michael as he opens the garage.

“Gotta keep the old man on his toes,” Replies Michael, swinging the car keys around his finger.

“Shotgun!” Shouts Ray, racing to the passenger side.

“No fair Ray! I know you conserve all your energy just for that,” Cries out Gavin, as Ray just laughs from the inside of the car.

Jeremy looks at Michael a puzzled look on his face and the other just shrugs.

Entering the car with Ray in the passenger seat, Michael driving and Jeremy and Gavin sitting in the back seat. Gavin still bickering with Ray and Michael just starts up the car, while Jeremy just silently puts on his seatbelt, strapping it tightly to himself, not knowing how well of a driver Michael is.

“Hey!” Shouts Michael stopping the bickering between the other sins, “Good, now Ray what’s on the list for today?” He asks, pulling out of the garage and starting to drive down the long driveway.

“Meat products, Milk, and alcohol,” Answers Ray taking out Jack’s list, “Oh, and whatever shit Jeremy needs,” Ray adds.

“Simple, really,” Gavin says, putting on his own seat belt motions for the other sins to put on theirs.

Another conversation begins between the three sins and Jeremy just leans his head out the window looking outside finally taking in his new surroundings. He notices that theirs more trees then what he’s used too, greener on the side of the roads, not the dead, plant-less world he’s used to living in. He starts to take comfort in the change, smiling to himself as he realizes that he got _out_.

 

* * *

 

 

The lads drive into town wasn’t that eventful, Gavin wanted to turn on the radio when got fed up with the tense and awkward silence. But Michael turned it off when all that was playing was static, which Gavin just argued that it was better than silence. Ray just play’s away with his phone, also distracting himself from the tense silence. Michael attempts just blocks everything out and tightens his grip on the steering wheel, keeping his eyes on the road trying not to care about the uncomfortable feeling in the car.  

And Jeremy just sits staring out the window, not even paying attention to what’s happening before he feels something poke at his shoulder. Coming out of his thoughts, the younger man slowly looks up at what poked him and meets Gavin’s finger.

“We’re getting close to town, you wanna go to the store or hardware shop first?” Gavin asks, dropping his hand.

“Store, it’ll probably take the longest,” Answers Jeremy, feeling a little dazed as he notices how curled up he to the car door. 

They just passed the ‘Welcome to Our Town’ sign, the drive being only twenty minutes but feeling much longer with the awkward air flowing through the car. They enter the town, looking like it’s been around much longer than any town Jeremy has ever seen or been too, the building large and old, with cracking bricks and ragged sides, the town clearly having to want or need to modernize

The town almost looks _too_ old to even be running right, their way too many potholes and cracks in the road, making the drive bumpy and slightly annoying. But Jeremy knows that old towns stay the same and everything and _everyone_ will too.

Michael does a quick turn and then steps on his brake suddenly, making all of them lurch forward. Jeremy looks out the front door and sees a nearly burnt out sign reading ‘Hometown Market’.

Jeremy can’t disagree with that.

“What the fuck Michael! Give a man a warning next time,” Swears Ray, huffing as he takes on his seatbelt and leaves the car harshly shutting it.

“You Mong, you could’ve killed us!” Shouts Gavin, following Ray out of the car.

Jeremy quickly takes off his seatbelt as Michael exits the car too, scoffing as he shuts his door.

“We’re demons, Gav,” Michael remarks, smirking.

Gavin thinks off a good reply then shares eye contact with Jeremy for a split second as the shorter man steps out of the car, “Maybe not Ray and me, but _definitely_ Jeremy,” Gavin retorts, immediately wanting to take it back as soon as Michaels' face falls, and morphs into anger.

“Well it’s not like you two fucks can drive,” Sneers Michael, angrily jamming the key into the car to lock it, “So it seems your stuck with me as your driver,” he adds, starting to walk away and into the store.

“I could drive,” Jeremy speaks up, making Michael stop and slowly turn back and glare at Jeremy.

“I-I mean if you’d want me too. I don’t want to take away your driving rights or anything Michael, but I could drive if you really wanted to let me. But _only_ if it’s okay with everyone, because I know it’s your car and-,”

Michaels anger falters as Jeremy tries to diffuse the situation, “It’s fine _Jer,_ you can drive home,” Michael interrupts, “I mean you did drive five hours without knowing and you got here in one place,” Michael jokes, making Jeremy laugh in response, feeling nostalgic as Michael uses his old nickname.

Ray and Gavin look at each other in confusion then smile in surprise on how well _and_ quick Michael diffused.

“Alright store time!” Gavin announces taking Jeremy’s hand and dragging him towards the entrance, with the other two sins following along and chuckling as Jeremy nearly trips on his own two feet. “They have everything we could need here Lil’J, It’s great!” Cheers Gavin, making the younger smile shyly as he lets himself get dragged into the market.

 

 

Hometown market, in fact, did have everything you could want, largely known brands, clothes, various technology and a large wall of alcohol. Making the three sins joke about Geoff not being allowed to go shopping alone due to the infamous wall of liquor. Shopping in the store goes smoothly, the three seemingly used to getting in and out even with Jeremy mixing up their usual way of doing things.

Jeremy just stays close to the cart, ignoring the very few other shoppers confused glances towards them, but _especially_ towards Jeremy. The three sins picking up on various emotions from the younger man, they leave quickly to grab what they need then return as quickly as they left, back to the cart and to Jeremy, worried that someone will try to talk to him, aware that the other shoppers have never seen Jeremy around before, and the threes sins seen firsthand that the townspeople don’t take to strangers well.

Jeremy knows that the others are hurrying faster then what their normal shopping pace because of him, he knows that all the other shopper’s eyes and store workers are staring at him like he’s a _figment_ of their imagination.

“Is there anything I can help with?” Jeremy asks the fifth time doing so.

Ray who’s pushing the cart just shrugs, “I mean we’re almost done anyways,” Gavin chimes in, returning from grabbing a large box of cereal.

“I think all that’s left to grab is something sweet, like a bag of cookies or something,” Michael adds, also returning to the cart a handful of various meats.

“I can get that,” Jeremy says, looking at the three, wanting to help but also get away from an old lady’s intense glare that seems attached to him wherever he goes.   

The three lads look at each other and what looks like to Jeremy a silent discussion with eyes, they nod and Michael sighs with his whole body, “You can,” Michael says.

Jeremy smiles and nods, feeling like a kid whose parent sent them on a private mission, and starts to leave the cart but stops remembering he doesn’t know where anything is.  

“Uh, where would that be?” Sheepishly asks Jeremy.

“Down two isles on your right,” Ray answers, seemingly knowing the aisle by heart. 

“Cool, alright be right back,” Jeremy says, turning a walking away.

Michael smiles and cups his hands over his mouth, “Get something good!” He shouts out, making both Gavin and Ray start laughing.

Without turning back Jeremy keeps walking and raises a thumbs up to Michael, glad to no longer feel the lady’s gaze.

Following Ray’s instructions, Jeremy enters the right aisle and is met this all kind of colorful treats, all made with a small child in mind when creating the wrapping. Jeremy strolls through the aisle and finds a big tray of an arrangement of cookies and goes to pick it up. He stops mid-way as his eye catches a giant box of a pre-make cake mix, and goes to pick _that_ up instead.

As Jeremy stares at the box, he thinks years back to when Matt and he were still in high school and he was staying over for the weekend at Matts. They played video games till midnight, talked and ate junk food, but it wasn’t until after one when Jeremy suggested to bake a cake, and that’s what the did, it got messy and they fought with flour, but Jeremy knew it was worth it when Matt took a bite and said it was the best thing he’s ever eaten. From then Jeremy continued to bake whenever he could, cakes, cookies, pastry’s he learned it all.

Jeremy frowns at the memory remembering when he had the time and money and just _energy_ just to do what made him happy, but when high school ended, and when he skipped college not having enough money for tuition and went straight to working, Jeremy continues to make a few things off and on, but their mostly for his girlfriend who accepted his sweets with a smile, only then to throw them out behind Jeremy’s back.

Jeremy stops baking completely when he finds Kate’s and his anniversary cake in the trash but doesn’t say anything already knowing that it was a stupid gift.

Jeremy misses baking, he misses the day’s where Matt and he could just hang out without a care in the world, he stupidly misses Kate, already knowing that Kate doesn’t and probably never did care about him. Overall Jeremy _just_ misses when he was only _Jeremy_ and not whoever this person was, who walked in his skin.   

Snapping back into reality, Jeremy wipes at his eyes cursing them as they threaten to pour tears down his face. He looks down at the cake box, pauses and thinks. Jeremy closes his eyes and holds the box close to his chest, turns and walks out of the aisle.

“We’re getting this,” Jeremy fumes, harshly putting the cake box into the cart, making the three sins look down at him, stunned at Jeremy’s tone.     

Michael looks more shocked than the other two as feels the pure anger radiating from the shorter man, he looks down at the cake box Jeremy demands they get and looks back at up Jeremy, confused as to how a box of cake mix can make such a man angry.

“What? You wanted something sweet and good,” Jeremy huffs, looking quizzically at the three demons. 

“Yeah, no. No! a cake is good, good pickings,” Gavin exclaims, throwing his arms out in defense.

“We should get going, the suns going down and you still need to go to the hardware store,” Michael says, feeling a little glee from Jeremy’s anger.

“Okay sounds good,” Jeremy replies, already walking towards the front.

Ray swings the car and goes after Jeremy with Gavin and Michael following afterward. Yeah, Michael could get along with this guy.

 

 

Ray takes Jeremy outside as more of the other shoppers almost start to crowd the four lads, as Michael and Gavin stay and check out. They both sit on the trunk of the car not having the keys to enter said car, Ray quietly fiddles with his phone but freezes completely as an overwhelming feeling of _exhaustion_ hits him he quickly turns his head over to Jeremy seeing the younger man curled up in a small ball next to him, breathing heavily all previous anger gone.

Hesitantly sliding off the trunk and goes over to face Jeremy’s trembling body, awkwardly watching the other as he wishes for Jack or _fuck,_ even Gavin to help him with Jeremy.

“Uh, hey man…. Are you uh, okay?” Ray asks, not the one to usually deal with other’s emotions, especially a _humans_ emotions.  

“Sorry, yeah, I-I just need a moment,” apologies Jeremy, his words coming out muffled by his face being pressed into his arm.

“No need to apologize, man,” Ray replies, getting no response from the trembling man, “Do you…. Um, need anything?” Ray asks.

“A hug,” Jeremy jokes, lifting his head out of his arms slightly.

Ray’s eyes meet with Jeremy, expecting the others to be red and puffy as he sounded like he was crying, but is met with perfectly dry brown eyes.

“I mean if you want one? I’d give you one,” Ray offers shrugging.

Jeremy freezes at Ray’s words almost agrees but internally shakes his head knowing that if he wasn’t crying now, then we would be. Instead, he just uncurls himself and laughs.

“I was joking, but I’ll take up on that offer another time,” Jeremy says, sliding off the trunk himself.

“I forget how fucking weird these people are!” Suddenly shouts Michael pushing a cart full of groceries.

“They wouldn’t stop asking us about you Lil’J!” Bursts Gavin, walking so fast it looks like he’s skipping.

“What why? Thought you guys try to be hidden about who you are,” Jeremy asks.

“Oh! We do but then you go to the same store for sixty plus years without aging, people start to notice that some shit is going on,” Michael answers unlocking the car and kicking the trunk up.

“Plus, they were only asking about you because you’re a stranger hanging around with the _freaks_ ,” Adds Ray, leaning on the side of the car not making a move to help Gavin and Jeremy with the bags.

“I don’t think you guys are freaks,” Jeremy addresses, picking up bags out of the cart and putting them into the trunk.

“Well you haven’t seen us in bed then,” Gavin winks, sending Jeremy to choke slightly and nearly drops a bag, before Michael flicks Gavin in the ear, causing an indignant cry from the sin.

Jeremy and Ray laugh watching as Gavin attempts to attack Michael back, leaving Jeremy to put the last bag of grocery’s in the car and closes the trunk.

“Okay, what’s left,” Michael says slightly out of breath from play fighting with Gavin.

“I need to get stuff to fix the roof,” Jeremy reminds the sin.

“Alright, it’s right across the street,” Michael says, motioning for the others to get in the car, “I’ll give you the keys to drive back afterward,” Michael tells Jeremy, the younger lad remembering that he’s to drive home. 

“Cool,” replies Jeremy.

Michael pulls out of the parking spot and drives right across the street to the hardware store and parks right at the front door. Jeremy gets out of the car and the others follow him, making Jeremy tell the others to stop.

“What you going to in by yourself?” Gavin asks, looking confused.

“It’ll only take a second,” Jeremy says, “And don’t say I don’t have enough money because I do,” Jeremy adds making Michael close his mouth and grunt.

“Only a second, I promise,” Jeremy vows, earning a quiet okay from the three lads.

“Good see you in a second,”

Jeremy makes good on his promise, quickly grabbing nails, some lumber and some plaster hoping that the guys have tools back at the house. He ignores as the cashier looks at him like he’s got two heads, and hands over his last remaining money with shaky hands. Barely having enough to buy everything he needs, but reminds himself that in a week he’ll be getting a check from Ms. Burns.

Mumbling out hurried thanks to the cashier, he rushes back to the car seeing all three sins out of their seats and sitting on the roof of the car, seemingly waiting for him.

“Took you longer than a second Lil’ J,” Michael teases, offering to take Jeremy’s stuff from him.

“Oh, hush you, it’s impossible for a mortal man like me to do such a thing,” Jeremy light heartedly snaps back.

“Good one Jeremy,” Gavin cheers.

Hearing the trunk close, and Michael appears from behind the car, Jeremy narrowly not catching the car keys as Michael tosses them at him.

“Ready to drive, Lil’J,” Michael asks.

“You bet, but I might need some help getting back,” Jeremy admits, getting used to being called Lil’J, thinking that they're doing it to be a kind joke than a harsh stab to Jeremy’s height.

“Sure,” Michael agrees, “Shotgun!” He adds, instantly racing Gavin to the Passenger side.

“Fine,” Huffs Gavin, sitting down in the back seat, next to Ray who got in before anyone.

Jeremy gets into the drivers’ seat, and looks at the car up and down, amazed on how much leather is in the car, “This is probably the nicest car I’ve ever been in,” Jeremy says, turning the key in the ignition.

Hearing it start at the first time, Jeremy looks over at Michael a smile on his face, “Remind me to never drive my shit car again,” Jeremy tells Michael, earning a round of laughter from the three sins and he pulls out of the hardware store parking lot.

“Will do, Jer,” Michael agrees.

“One more thing,” speaks up Ray, “Please don’t wreck our car,” Ray nearly whines.

“I’ll try not to, also put on your goddamn seatbelts!” Assured Jeremy, before realizing that none of the sins were wearing seatbelts.

“Safety first motherfuckers!” Lightly mocks Michael as he puts on his seatbelt, laughing loudly.

 

 

Driving back from the town was much different than driving _to_ the town, the silence being beaten by boisterous laughter from all four lads, the three sins learning more about Jeremy, that he was in gymnastics and played football for a bit in high school, that he wanted to go to an art school but went into the working force instead.

Jeremy learns that the sins gang back in the fifties gave them and Burnie a lot of money even now after all these years, he also learns that Gavin was summoned in England and adapted to the language before heading over to America where he met Burnie and Geoff, and eventually the others. That the sins are completely huge nerds that never leave the house unless they absolutely need too. But Jeremy picks up on some things being left out and lied about, and that’s fine.

Jeremy lies about his money issues and what went down before he came to Austin, like leaving out his ex-girlfriend and Matt, those are things to tell the others for another day, and when more trust is built on both sides things can be revealed and admitted but for now, it’s the sins and Jeremy's own secrets.

“What about the cake mix?” Ray asks, making Jeremy tense up.

“Yeah, you were so pissed, we’d all thought you were some sort of docile dude,” Michael adds, not noticing Jeremy’s vice-like grip on the steering wheel.

“I….I like baking,” Jeremy breathed out, trying to relax his hands and body.

“Okay? But why get all pissed about?” Gavin questions.

“I like baking, but it brings back memories that I can’t deal with,” He answers quietly.

Ray wants to bring up Jeremy sitting on the trunk having something that he now recognizes as a panic attack, but doesn’t say anything but hums in response.

“So, you buy pre-made cake mix just out of what? Spite?” Michael asks, confused.

“No, kinda,” Jeremy says, “I-I just like baking and I want to get over my stupid shit,” Jeremy rushes out.

Michael looks at Jeremy still a puzzled expression on his face, but turns in to one of understanding and looks away.

“Better be one bloody good baker,” speaks up Gavin, after a few silent moments go past.

Jeremy chuckles, “You bet your little British ass that at the first bite you’ll shit yourself,” Jeremy says a grin on his face.

And just like that, the silence is gone and the jokes and laughter are back.

 

* * *

 

 

“Gavin just texted me saying they’re heading home,” Jack announces, making Ryan and Geoff pause their current game.

“How much you want to bet, they forgot something,” Ryan says, putting down his controller.

“I bet they forgot the milk, they always forget the milk,” Geoff replies, “I’m sick of not having milk it’s a crucial factor in our mornings,” He continues.

“Oh, like you drink milk every morning, theirs a full gallon of milk that’s expired in the fridge,” Jack argues.

“Well maybe I wanna try to drink more milk,” Retorts Geoff, voice going slightly higher in pitch.

Ryan just crosses his arms and laughs in amusement at the two bickering like an old married couple, which Ryan knows isn’t that far from the truth, “I don’t even like milk,” unhelpfully contributes Ryan. 

“No one in this house does!” Geoff shouts.

“I do!” Jack shouts back.

“We all know that Jack!” Ryan blurts out loudly.

All three gents stop and look at each other before Geoff cracks a lazy smile and the other break out in laughter.

“Fuck, we act exactly like an old married couple,” Geoff says, looking at the other two gents a soft smile on his face.

“So do the lads when you get the three of them together,” Chimes in Ryan.

“I wonder how Jeremy’s dealing with that,” Jack ponders.

Ryan shrugs, “The kid didn’t really seem like he wanted to go in the first place,” Ryan observed.

Jack thinks back to earlier when the Lads were leaving and Jack felt a strong feeling of envy coming off Jeremy, but then the kid’s feeling changing quickly to another strong feeling of guilt.

“The kid felt envious earlier, it was strong,” Jack admits aloud, the other gents quickly looking towards him, “Stronger then anything I’ve felt from a human. What does that mean?” Jacks questions, is has been a long time with interacting with a human for so long and for so _closely_.

“I felt the same thing,” Announces Ryan, “It was strong, _very_. Like I could see it coming from the kid with my own two eyes,” He continues, “I agree with Jack, its nothing like any human I’ve come across.”

“I-I have completely no idea what that means,” Geoff Admits, “Maybe it’s just because we haven’t spoken to another human in sixty years,” He speculates, resting his head on Jacks lap, feeling his mind whirl around in confusion and possibilities as to why.          

Jack begins running his hands through Geoff's hair, calming both himself and hopefully Geoff down. Ryan shuffles closer to the other sins, “Maybe, but even with Burnie his emotions never felt this potent before,” Ryan informs.

“We should definitely discuss it more with the lads later,” Geoff says, the other sins nod, sounding like a good plan

Jack feels a buzz from his phone next to him, pausing from petting Geoff to look at it.

“Gavin texted again,” Notified Jack, smiling as he texts the lad back.

“What he’d text you?” Geoff asks, missing Jacks hands in his hair.

“That their five minutes away and that Michael tells us to stop fucking on the couch before Jeremy sees,” Jack laughs, “Also a bunch of golden heart emojis,” He adds.   

“We’ve never fucked on this couch,” Geoff huffs out, “Yet,” He whispers to himself.

“I think he just means to stop making out before Jeremy comes in here and freaks out,” Ryan explains.

“You’d really think Jeremy would freak out on us making out with one another?” Jack questions, continuing to brush through Geoff hair making the other gent hum happily.

“No, but I guess we can never know. I mean we just met the kid about eight hours ago,” Ryan reminds.

“It feels like we’ve known the kid longer than that,” Geoff admits, and Ryan and Jack can’t disagree.

Hearing the garage open and the car pull into it, Jack removes his hands from Geoff ignoring the others whine and quickly kisses Geoff on the lips, before pushing the other sin off and giving Ryan a kiss on the forehead as he gets up to open the door for the lads.

“Need any help out there?” Jack calls out, Geoff and Ryan both standing next to him.

“No, we got it thanks though!” They surprisingly hear Jeremy shout back.

They move out of the way as Michael barges through the door holding what looks like a million bags on his arms, with Gavin holding a good three in each hand, Ray with one in each hand and Jeremy carrying what looks like the rest of the bags.

“That’s a lot of food,” Points out Ryan, closing the front door behind Jeremy.

“Well, we got seven mouths to feed now Ry!” Grinned Gavin, setting down his groceries on the countertop.

“Can’t say your wrong, but it does look a little overdone,” Jack chimes in, following the lads into the kitchen.

“Nonsense, we got everything on the list and then just a little extra,” Gavin retorts.

“Did you forget anything?” Geoff asks the lads.

“Booze,” Says Michael, instantly making Geoff pale.

“What!? I circled it four times! Even in highlighter!” Squeaks out Geoff, sounding likes he’s in near tears.

The lads including Jeremy start laughing, and Michael holds up two six packs of beer in one hand and a giant bottle of rum in the other, making Geoff immediately deflate in relief.

“Your such an alcoholic old man,” Ray teases.

“You try living completely a hundred percent sober with you five chaotic assholes!” Argues Geoff.

“I already do Geoff,” Ryan says.

“As do I,” Adds Ray.

Geoff opens his mouth in an attempt to retort but just sighs and closes his mouth in defeat, “Why do I even try,” Geoff mumbles, and Jack rubs Geoff’s back in comfort, knowing that the teasing is all in good fun.

“Alright,” Michael interrupts, an amused look in his eye as he glances over at the large pile of grocery bags cluttering the kitchen floor, “It’s betting time bitches!” Michael announces loudly, making the other sins groan in annoyance and leaving Jeremy to look confused and slightly lost as to what’s happening.

“Betting what?” Jeremy asks aloud.

“It’s the stupid prick thing Michael does to get out of putting away the groceries,” Geoff tells Jeremy, smirking as Michael heard him.

“I know we have a newcomer, so I’ll explain the ways of the game,” Michael says looking at Jeremy.

“The game is to guess the price of how much it costs, whoever guesses the farthest has to put away all the groceries,” Jeremy nods finding the game unfair yet simple, “But tonight, since there is a lot more shit the two farther guessers will do the putting away,” Adds Michael, grinning sinisterly.

“Who what’s to go first?” Michael asks.

Everyone stands silently all expressions one of annoyance or puzzlement coming from Jeremy.

“Fuck it, three hundred and ninety,” Guesses Ray, clearly done for the night.

“Gav?” Michael asks the nearest man to Ray.

“Cocks, um two hundred?” Answers Gavin.

Going down the line of whoever’s nearest to the previous, Ryan reluctantly answers with three hundred and twelve, Jack with four hundred and eighty, Geoff with a ‘fuck you’ and four hundred dollars exactly. 

“And finally, with you Lil’J?” Michael asks hands behind his back-reminding Jeremy of a Carnival spokesman.

“Um, four hundred and fifty?” Jeremy guesses, feeling a little sick at the thought of spending so much in one place, and with just flippancy.

“And the losers are……. Ryan and Gavin!” Michael announces a wicked smile on his face and the two sins groan loudly.

“How much was the total result Michael?” Jack asks, “Who got the closest answer?” Geoff clarifies.

Michael rummages through a nearby bag and grabs the receipt to show to Jack, “Four hundred and fifty-eight dollars, so Jeremy just nearly nailed it,” Michael says, making Jeremy blink is surprise.

Ryan and Gavin quickly start to put away the groceries, wanting to get it over with and relax for the rest of the night. Jack and Geoff look over the receipt and both spot something that they’ve never seen the lads buy before, “Cake mix? Who bought cake mix, nobody around here bakes,” Geoff questions, looking around in confusion, and Jeremy freezes forgetting that he made the others buy that for him.

“Jeremy does,” Gavin answers, not pausing from putting away food.

“What?” Ryan asks as he does pause from putting away the food.      

“Jeremy likes baking, so he wanted cake mix to make a cake,” Michael says.

“Alright, that’s cool,” Jack slowly says, a little confused as to why the lads are answering for Jeremy.

“He’s apparently a damn good one too,” Ray speaks up, “One bite will make you shit your pants,” Ray quotes.

“I miss baking, it’s fun,” Jeremy finally tells the gents, a nostalgic-like, smile on his face.

“Can’t say no to good baked treats I guess,” Geoff says, both Ryan and Jack nodding along with Geoff.

 

 

Finishing up with the groceries as the others leave to go continue to play video games, Michael tossing his controller over to Jeremy, making the younger lad attempt to play, making the sins laugh as Jeremy keeps dying repeatedly.

“Look I don’t play that many video games,” Jeremy argues, after dying yet again by accidentally jumping off a cliff.

“Gavin uses those same excuses and he plays video games _every day_ , and _still_ sucks at it,” Michael cackles, laughing harder as Gavin squawks from the kitchen.

“I’ll learn, just you watch,” Challenges Jeremy, his character nearly falling off of the same cliff from before.

“Alright the food is officially put away,” Says Ryan flopping himself tiredly on the couch, Gavin doing the same on the other side.

“Is anyone hungry?” Geoff asks, and everyone raises a hand except for Jeremy, whose getting lost in the game, “Jeremy? You hungry?” Geoff asks the younger lad.

Jeremy pauses the game at his name being called, “Uh, yeah,” Replies Jeremy.

“Great, well I’m too lazy to really cook anything tonight so I’m just gonna make a bunch of frozen pizzas. Sound good?” Geoff questions, earning an excited nod from everyone.

“Awesome, like four pizzas coming right up,” Agrees on Geoff, and turns to head into the kitchen.

“Okay,” Michael says, grabbing Jeremy’s controller, unpausing the game, “we're all like gaming champs,” Michael tells Jeremy, motioning to himself and the others, “So, tonight is your first day in video gaming One-O-One,” Adds the lad, handing back over the controller.

The rest of night continues smoothly, even after a semi-harsh video game training, and a pizza disaster on Geoff’s part. The sins and Jeremy still manage to have a good night, Jeremy tells the gents what he told the lads earlier in the car, the gents clarify more on what they did as a crew, saying more things then the lads told him, and say more about what it’s like to one of the seven deadly sins and just as demons in general.

The gents keep the information about their relationship with one another a secret and they have empaths like powers and Jeremy’s very loud and vibrant feelings that keep shouting at them, a thing they'll keep to themselves until they can discuss with the other lads about it.  

After a long night, Ray’s first to head to bed and bids them all a good night. Jeremy tries to force himself to stay awake and continue playing video games and conversations with the sins, but all the others pick up on his drooping eyes and slightly slurred speech and send him to bed. Them all promising that they’d chat more in the morning.

So, Jeremy says goodnight to the other men, and heads upstairs to his new bedroom, he tiredly shoves his duffle bags on the ground and takes off his jacket and shoes. And with not bothering to change his clothes Jeremy grabs the still folded blankets and wraps himself in them, feeling relaxed it almost resembling the feeling of _home_.

Jeremy falls asleep begging to an unknown force, for when he wakes up that today wasn’t a dream.


	3. This life is definitely something else

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jeremy continues living with the sins and soon learns how deep the rabbit hole goes for the seven sins and their lives.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This keeps getting longer and longer, I promise the next chapter will be the final one. Enjoy! :)
> 
>  
> 
> Chapter Warnings: Angst/ Minor panic attack/ Swearing/ fluff and some violence at the end.
> 
> ((This story is purely fictional and are not at all accurate to these real-life people and their real lives. This story is not a real depiction of any of the people written in it in real life.))

The morning after the first night is treated no differently from a normal morning with the sins, Geoff and Ryan waking up first to take a shower, Jack third to start breakfast. Leaving Michael, Gavin, and Ray to wake up an hour after the gents.

Jack sleepily walks down the stairs and goes to make coffee, then becomes confused as to why he already smells coffee being brewed. Jack then turns and spots Jeremy’s sitting at the kitchen table a small bowl of cereal set out in front of him.

Seeing Jacks surprised expression, Jeremy stops eating his cereal and drops his spoon making a clinging sound that disrupts the silence between Jack and him.

“Uh, I made coffee if that’s okay,” Jeremy speaks up, voice nearly a whisper thinking that the others are still asleep, “I think it’s enough for all of you to have a cup. If not, I can make some more,” Jeremy tells Jack.

Clearing his head from sleep and shock of Jeremy and yesterday’s occurrences running through his memory. Jack shakes his head at Jeremy, “Eh, no that’s fine, I can make some more for the others,” Jacks assures, “But, thank you, Jeremy, it’s very kind of you to make coffee,” Jacks adds smiling at Jeremy, as he grabs a coffee mug and fills it up with Jeremy’s coffee.  

Jeremy ignores the heat in his face from being thanked and nods in response to the sin. Turning back to eating his cereal, Jeremy looks back up at Jack, “It’s alright for me to eat this right? Not taking anybody’s favorite box of cereal,” Jeremy nervously asks.

Jack frowns at the question, aware that Jeremy is acting like the Jeremy who they first met the day before, the younger lad being uncertain, hesitant, quiet and almost frail looking. Nothing like the Jeremy who stayed up teasing the others and cracking jokes while playing video games with them, interacting with one another like they’ve known each longer than just ten hours.       

“Yeah, of course! Any food is your food,” Jack addresses, moving to sit across Jeremy, who slowly continues to eat his cereal.

Jeremy watches Jack drink his coffee, knowing that the other man is avoiding direct eye contact. The younger lad sighs his mind and body feeling tired and sore.

Jeremy’s been awake way longer than Jack, knowing he only got about three hours of useful sleep, before unwanted memories started to merge and twist up his pleasant dreams of video games and laughter into horrific, graphic nightmares about his past and possibilities of his _future_.

 Around six o’clock, Jeremy wakes up with a gasp, flailing out of bed confused as to where he is before remembering that he’s staying at a house with six other men, who just happen to be demons.

Refusing to cry as everything hits Jeremy at once, him leaving his old life, leaving _Matt_ , waking up on the couch in an old house only to be attacked by a man in glasses and six other guys saying they are just _some_ of the seven deadly sins. Him going to a small overly suspicious town with the three youngest sins, buying cake mix and spending his last remaining money, and having one of the _best_ nights of his life.

Jeremy sat beside his bed and tried to muffle his broken sounding laughter.

After his rude awakening, Jeremy changes from his old dirty and now sweaty clothes into a pair of slightly clean-ish clothes, then making his way quietly down the stairs to find some sort of food and maybe coffee.

That was two hours ago.

Now here sits Jeremy and Jack, both too nervous to talk to one another.

“Morning Jack,” Geoff greets scaring the two in the kitchen, with Ryan following in tow, both spotting wet hair from the shower.

Geoff goes to kiss Jack on the cheek but thinks better of it and instead puts his hand on the other's shoulder lingering for a second.

“Thanks for the coffee Jack,” Ryan says already all over the coffee.

“Oh, actually Jeremy made it,” Jacks admits.

Ryan takes a sip and smiles at the younger lad, “Thank you, Jeremy, the coffee is very good,” Ryan complemented.

“No problem,” Jeremy replies, quietly, “Where are the others?” Jeremy asks.

“Sleeping. They normally sleep in late,” Jack answers.

Geoff grabs a cup of Jeremy’s coffee and sits down at the table next to Jack, Ryan doing the same as he cradles the coffee cup in his hands.

“So, what are your plans today Jeremy?” Questions Geoff, watching the kid’s stiff posture and attitude. 

“I’m going to start and hopefully finish the roof,” Said Jeremy finishing up his bowl of cereal.

“Would you need help from one of us?” Asks Ryan, as the three sins watch Jeremy get up and begin to clean his bowl in the sink.

“You can just put in the sink, we’ll wash it later,” Jacks tells Jeremy, making the other hesitate but still turn off the sink leaving the bowl.

“Don’t think I’ll need help fixing it,” Jeremy tells the three gents, “But I’d like to know if you guys happen to have like tools and a ladder? I have all I need to fix the roof beside those things,” Jeremy continues.    

“Yeah, there’s a shack in the back, it has about anything you could ever need,” Geoff says pointing to a door behind him, leading into the backyard, “But the tools are a little old-fashioned,” He warns Jeremy.

“That’s fine, I can work with almost anything,” Jeremy replies, setting out of the back door before Ryan speaks up.

“Do you need us to show you where the shack is?” Ryan asks, making the younger lad freeze holding the door open, letting in the frigid morning air.

Jeremy turns back around, “No, I can find it myself. Thanks, Ryan,” he says then exits the house.

The three gents succeed as they try not to flinch at the back door slamming shut, turning away from the door and face each other, their coffee suddenly feeling cold in their hands. 

 

* * *

 

 

The younger lad knows he’s being the biggest dick to his new friends? Roommates? _Pals_? Whatever they are to him after one life-changing day. Jeremy knows he’s being disrespectful to the gents. But he’s so tired from the lack of sleep, he just  _doesn’t_ care, at least right now he _can’t_.

As Jeremy stands outside the back door, the frigid air nipping at his skin, his emotions that are going through his head, come out numb and muted.

To the younger lad, time starts to go by faster than usual. Jeremy doesn’t remember going out to the car and grabbing the stuff he bought yesterday from the trunk, he barely remembers going to the shack and grabbing the box of ancient tools and a ladder.

The lad finds himself on the roof of the house, looking down at the supposed part of the collapsing roof and laughs, the action thawing out the numbness in his mind and body.

Part of the roof has solid wood planks, poorly nailed and horribly mismatched to the rest of the roofs old rugged color. Underneath the shit attempt to fix the roof, is a small hole that seems to have been collapsed, but surprisingly to Jeremy as he checks the rest of the roof, and finds that it’s the only problem that needs to be somewhat immediately fixed.

Setting down the tools, Jeremy heads back down the ladder and carefully brings up the rest of his supplies. Starting with pulling off the sins attempt to fix the problem with a hammer, and takes off the surrounding shingles. The lad lays down his lumber and nails it down into the hole on both sides and grabs the new shingles he bought yesterday.

Glad that he grabbed a color that very closely resembled the original roof, he nails them down, starting around the weakest parts and spreading them down across the lumber creating a strong shell-like cover over the hole.

“Lil’J! You up there?” Shouts out Michael, his voice still booming even from the ground and up two stories.

Jeremy finishes nailing in his last nail and wipes away cold sweat with the back of his hand, carefully inching to the edge of the roof he looks down and spots Gavin, Ryan, and Michael.

“Yeah! Just finishing up,” Jeremy shouts back down, looking proudly back at his work.

Ryan down below picks up on Jeremy's pride feeling and shakes his body, still wanting to know why the younger lad’s emotions are so strong.

“Already?” Gavin calls up, receiving a loud proud hum in response.

“Fuck, you work fast!” Michael shouts up at Jeremy, making a large grin appeared on Jeremy’s face.

Jeremy picks up the tools and old scraps of roof and wood, and puts them into the toolbox and carefully heads down the ladder, with the help of the two other lads holding the shaking ladder, and Ryan’s hands that help support him down the last couple of steps.

Feeling Ryan’s warm hands touch his arm, Jeremy nearly drops the toolbox in his realization of how cold he is.

“Jesus Jeremy, your freezing!” exclaims Ryan, pulling away his hand, making Jeremy immediately and oddly miss the older man’s warm touch.      

The two younger sins touch Jeremy’s cold skin after Ryan’s claim, creating the shorter man’s skin to erupt in goosebumps, “Why aren’t you wearing a jacket? It’s bloody near to nothing degrees outside!” Squawks Gavin, making himself shiver to prove his point.

“I didn’t realize how cold it was,” Jeremy tells the three sins, wrapping his arms around himself, “Guess working hard made me forget the cold,” He suggests.

“Fuck working hard if you’re just going to get hypothermia,” Michael argues, breathing out it creates a cloud of vapor.

“Like I’m going to get hypothermia from less than twenty minutes outside,” Jeremy scoffs.

“You’ve been out a little longer than twenty minutes Lil’J,” Says Gavin.

“What half an hour?” Jeremy asks, knowing it doesn’t take that long to fix just a single hole in the roof. 

“More like an hour,” Retorts Michael, starting to feel the cold nip on his face and hands.

“Even though it’s still not good to be out here with no jacket, I’m surprised you finished a collapsing roof in that time,” Ryan marvels.

Confused on how he once _again_ lost track of time, though thankfully it wasn’t too long of a gap. Jeremy shakes his head at the other three, “You guys told me that the roof was collapsing,” Jeremy says.

“Is it not?” Gavin asks, looking at Jeremy a little confused.

“No!” Laughs Jeremy, “It was just a small hole, it took more time to peel away your guy’s shit then it took to fix the damn thing,” The younger lad admits continuing to laugh.

“Well at least we did _something_ ,” Michael snorts and grabs the toolbox from Jeremy’s hand, while to the younger man is distracted.

“Hey! Where are you taking that?” Jeremy protests.

“Back in the shed, I’m going the fuck back inside,” Michael answers, “Since your apparently done with the roof. I can nearly hear Gavin’s nipples starting to fall off,” Adds Michael, making Jeremy and Ryan chuckle. 

Gavin wraps his arms tighter around his chest, protecting his nipples and frowns, yet a small smile still makes its way onto his face.

Michael puts away the toolbox and returns to the three, grabbing Jeremy’s arm and dragging him back into the house.

“What are you doing?” Jeremy asks, trying to shrug off Michaels' hand.

“We’re making you come inside, you’re gonna get sick if not,” Ryan tells Jeremy.

“No, I’m not,” Jeremy argues making Ryan raise his brow in disbelief.

“If you do,” Michael says letting go of Jeremy’s arm to open the back door, “We’ll tell you to fuck right off, and take care of own sick ass,” Warns Michael, and grabs Jeremy’s arm dragging him into the house.

When entering back into the house, Jeremy shivers from the quick change of temperature. Jack, Geoff, and Ray are all in the living room chilling on various couches.

“Aw, look at that your nose is red,” Points out Ray, making Jeremy touch his nose.

“How’s the roof doing?” Geoff asks.

“Finished it,” Jeremy tells the older sin, still getting dragged by Michael deeper into the living room.

“What! Already?” Questions Jack, looking at the four as they all sit down.

“Apparently the collapsing roof was just a hole in the roof, an easy fix,” Ryan tells the others, flopping his feet up on the coffee table.

“So… It’s fixed?” Geoff questioned.

“Yep, just supported it a bit with some extra limber and some shingles,” Jeremy answers, shuffling around on the couch, “The rest of the roof looks brand new, besides the roof being a hundred years old,” The younger lad adds.

“It’s not a hundred years old maybe just like fifteen-years? A guy we knew replaced the roof and fixed up the house, but he died a couple years later,” Jack corrects Jeremy, tone hinting with sadness.

“Oh, sorry,” Jeremy apologizes, feeling like he should.

“The roofs all fixed now, all thanks to you!” Gavin tells Jeremy, making the younger man smile.

Geoff pats Jeremy’s shoulder and is met with Jeremy’s nearly frozen feeling skin, “Holy shit kid, you’re like a frozen popsicle!” Says Geoff, taking his hand off the younger man.

“Nah, I’m just cold to the touch,” Jeremy tells Geoff.

“Cold my ass, you’re fucking freezing,” Geoff scoffs.

“I just need to warm up that’s all,” reassures Jeremy, getting up off the couch, “I’m gonna go change, then I’m going to make that cake,” Jeremy tells the sins, them all watching him.

“It’s only nine o’clock, seems a little too early to be baking?” Ray questions, making Jeremy freeze thinking that it may be a little _too_ early.

“Well, I’m still going to change. My clothes are slightly wet from sweating,” Jeremy confesses, starting again to head upstairs.

“You can take a shower if you want?” Offers Jack, knowing from Jeremy’s appearance it’s been awhile since a nice, clean and warm shower. 

Going ridged at the thought of a shower, Jeremy tries to think back to the last time he took a shower, knowing that it was the morning the same day he left Matt’s house. Three days before.

Suddenly feeling like he’s, filthy Jeremy turns around and faces the other sins, “Uh, sure yeah, that’d be wonderful,” Jeremy answers, oddly looking too grateful at the sins.

“It’s right next to your room, can’t miss it,” Jack tells Jeremy.

 

* * *

 

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­The bathroom upstairs is much larger and newer then what Jeremy expected, but unsurprisingly still holds its rustic aesthetic. The shower still has a high raised tub as its base, with a large shower head that looks like it belongs in a museum. A built-in shelf holds some various bottles of shampoo and a small bar of soap next to them.

Jeremy closes and locks the bathroom door behind him, and exhales a deep breath as the bathroom has a warm and comforting feel to it. Putting down the clean clothes he brought, he starts to strip off his slightly sweat-soaked shirt, but pauses as his reflection in the sink mirror catches his eye.

Realizing that this is the first time he’s seen his reflection in almost a week, he takes note of his dark bagged eyes and disheveled hair and growing beard.

He slowly takes off his shirt, still maintaining eye contact with his mirror image, he reaches back and touches the back of his head glad that the spot where _Jeff_ , made his head slam against the door is no longer sore. Jeremy shakes away the ever-lasting memory of _burning_ hands on his shoulders _pushing him down and_ -

Jeremy quickly and shakily takes off the rest of his clothes and jumps in the shower turning the temperature up to as high as it can be. The younger lad ignored how with every droplet the shower poured down on him felt like he was almost being boiled alive.

Jeremy swiftly cleans his entire body twice maybe even three times, in his desperate attempt to make himself feel somewhat clean again, that he was wasn’t broken down and dirty, that he’s a strong _man_ that _doesn’t_ cry and _doesn’t_ let his life fall to shit.

After what feels like forever, Jeremy turns off the shower, feeling bad that he probably used the remaining warm water. The younger lad dry’s himself off and puts on his clean clothes and is relieved that the mirror is fogged, unable for him to further question his appearance, and thinking that it’s better not to bother.

Jeremy gathers the dirty clothes and unlocks the door only to meet face to face with Geoff, the older sin automatically noticing Jeremy’s red eyes and even redder skin, due to the younger man scrubbing at his skin under near scolding water.

Freezing with the sudden appearance of the tattooed sin, Jeremy takes a step back into the bathroom not comfortable with the close proximity the other is to him.

Snapping out of his thoughts Geoff picks up on Jeremy’s discomfort and moves away from the door frame, letting the younger man quickly exit the bathroom and make a b-line to his room. Geoff follows hesitantly behind the man and lingers around the door to the others room.

“Are you alright?” Geoff asks and immediately and internally slaps himself for the stupid question when the answer is so obvious.

“Yep,” Jeremy lies, popping the ‘p’ at the end, “Sorry If I used up all the hot water. Did you need something from me?” Jeremy asks looking up with a forced smile, faltering slightly as he sees that the other man looks worried, almost like he knows what’s going on with Jeremy.

 “It’s fine, most of us already took showers,” Geoff said, “And we just wanted to check up on you, you were in there for a little while,” Geoff awkwardly chuckles.

 “Yeah, the showers nice, thanks again for letting me,” Jeremy thanks looking back down, and shoves his dirty clothes into one of his duffle bags.

“It’s no problem, looked like you need one,” Says the tattooed sin, pity lacing his voice.

Huffing at the pity nearly dripping off Geoff’s tone, Jeremy angrily zips up his duffle bag and looks back up at the older man, his anger softening as he realizes that the other is trying to give Jeremy space.

“What time is it now?” Asks Jeremy, really wanting to bake the cake he got the day before.

“Uh, around ten-thirty. Are you still wanting to make the cake?” Geoff answers.

“Definingly, but like Ray said it might be too early,” Jeremy says, exiting his room and closing the door.

“Eh, whatever fuck it, anytime is bake time if you want it to be,” Geoff tells Jeremy, following a couple steps behind the younger man as they head downstairs.

As they reach the bottom, Jeremy turns around and faces Geoff, “Great, now where are your mixing bowls and cooking pans?” Jeremy asks, a whole new excited expression on his face.

“I’ll show you,” Geoff smiles, telling Jeremy to follow him into the kitchen.

 

 

“Why are you using milk? When it says to use water,” Gavin asks, swing his legs back and forth as he sits on the countertop, the rest of the sins similarly situated around the younger man, as he mixes together the cake-mix.

“I’m still using water,” Jeremy replies looking at the brit, “Just using it to water down the milk.”

“But why? Shouldn’t you just follow the recipe on the box?” Questions Ray, looking confused at Jeremy’s actions.

“I mean you _can_. But I like a fluffy cake, and this is how you make a fluffy cake,”

The three younger sins look puzzledly at Jeremy, while the older sins just nod as it makes some sense to them. Hearing the oven beep, the younger lad pours the batter into two cake pans. With the help of Ray’s foot, as he uses it to open the oven, Jeremy puts in the cakes and sets a timer.

“forty-five minutes really?” Complains Michael.

“And some extra fifteen-to-twenty minutes to let it cool before frosting it,” Jeremy chuckles, opening the fridge and pulling out three sticks of butter and more milk.

“But you guys didn’t buy any frosting,” Says Jack, wondering what the younger lad is doing now.

“No, but it seems like you guys have everything to make some,” Jeremy tells Jack.

“Like _homemade_ frosting?” Ryan questions, looking quizzically at Jeremy.   

“No, I’m just going to whisk together some butter, milk, and sugar into a bowl and pull out a brand-new store-bought tub of frosting,” Retorts Jeremy, stopping to look at Ryan, a sly smile on his face.

The other sins all call out a series of ‘ooooh’ and ‘he got you on that one Ry’. Making Ryan laugh along with the others.

“So, since I’m making this cake for you guys. What kind of frosting you want?” Jeremy asks, his happy expression matching the others.

“Well…. What can you make out of all the random junk we have around here?” Geoff says when the others stay in silence all not knowing what they’d want.

“Um, if you have some chocolate lying around. I could make some chocolate buttermilk frosting or just some classic vanilla frosting?” Jeremy offers, “And if you guys have some marshmallows I could make a fondant,” Adds Jeremy, looking like a baker mid-conversation with a client, and with a small relaxed smile on his face.

The others looked almost shocked at what Jeremy is saying, but glad to know that the younger looks and feels like he’s in his natural element, like the night before.

“I know we don’t have any marshmallows, but I know we _do_ have some chocolate hiding out in the fridge,” Answers Jack, getting up from his seat, and opening the fridge pulling out some old looking chocolate bars.

“They might be a little too old though,” Admits Michael looking over Jack’s shoulder.

“Eh, whatever it’s fine, chocolate can’t go _that_ bad,” Shrugs the shorter man, politely taking the chocolate bars from Jack’s hands, “So chocolate frosting it is then?” Jeremy asks the sins.

“Totally, just promise that even with old chocolate your baking skills can still make me shit my pants,” Geoff says to Jeremy, making him and the others start laughing.

“I promise that my baking skills will make _all_ of you shit your pants, and _then_ some,” Jeremy promises, making the others laugh harder.

“Alright, Alright. What else do you need? I’ve never heard of a butter, chocolate, and milk-frosting before,” Asks Jack.

“I didn’t even know you could make frosting at home,” Gavin says, earning a chuckle from Jeremy.

“Well it’s better then what you can get from a plastic tub,” Jeremy tells Gavin, “And I guess all I really need is some powdered sugar and vanilla extract,” Adds Jeremy, listing things off the top of his head.

“Done and done, the sugar is in the lower cabinet behind you, and the vanilla in the upper one behind all the spices,” Geoff says, knowing the majority of what is in the cabinets being the head cook in the house.

Michael gets up and grabs the vanilla from the upper cabinet as Jeremy begins to try and climb up on the counter to grab it. Jeremy huffs and takes away the small bottle from Michael, then grabs a paper textured bag of powdered sugar from the lower cabinet.

“And like the chocolate, they're both probably a little old,” Warns Ryan, shyly smiling at the two ingredients that have clearly dated wrapping.

The younger lad shrugs and begins to measure out his measurements, “Oh, and do you guys have like a microwave or something? I need to melt the chocolate,” Asks Jeremy, as he starts unwrapping the chocolate bars and breaking them into small pieces into a bowl, with the help of Gavin and Ray.

“Yeah, we do, we don’t use it very often, so we keep it in the back,” Geoff replies, motioning for Michael to go and grab it.

“The timer still has twenty-some minutes left,” Points out Ray, “Is that enough time to make frosting?” He adds.

“Of course, it’s better to wait a bit before putting frosting on the cake, otherwise it’ll just slip off,” Jeremy tells the other lad.

“Smart,”

Michael returns to the kitchen, with a fairly new microwave in his arms. Setting it down and plugging it in beside Jeremy and the other two lads, “So, what do we do with this now?” Michael asks.

“We need to melt the chocolate and soften up the butter, so it’ll all mix together easily,” Jeremy answers, unwrapping the butter and putting them into another bowl.

“Geoff can help with that, it seems that the microwave will only work for him,” Jack said.

“I can’t help it if all of our electronics, like me more than any of the rest of you,” addresses Geoff, getting up from his seat and going over to the microwave.

Jeremy gives Geoff the bowl of butter first, “Make sure you don’t burn it, just soften it,” Jeremy tells the tattooed sin.

The other accepts the butter bowl and scoffs, and looks at Jeremy with a tired like smile, “I’m the chef in the house, I know how to get the perfect butter.”

“Glad to know,”

The lad’s return to sitting on the counter and let the younger lad and Geoff have some space to work. Hearing the microwave timer beep, Geoff takes out the butter and hands it back to Jeremy.

The tattooed sin motions for Jeremy to give him the bowl of chocolate to him, and the other just shakes his head and moves past Geoff and puts it in himself.

“I can do it, chocolate burns super easily,” Jeremy tells Geoff, setting the timer for fifteen seconds, “The trick to melting chocolate it to moderate the time, and to stir after every time,” Admits Jeremy, grabbing a nearby spoon just in time for the timer to go off.

Stirring the chocolate and putting it back into the microwave, Jeremy repeats the steps three more times until the chocolate is melted to the perfect mixture of very melted and yet semi-solid. Jeremy sets aside the chocolate and mixes in the melted butter, having to admit to Geoff that the butter was, perfect.

“Told you so,” Geoff hums, crossing his arms.

“Good job, you get to keep the title as butter master,” Ray speaks up, his tone a little joking.

Jeremy continues mixing together the other ingredients as the sins go into a spiel about Ray being the master of nothing and Geoff being the master of many things that have not that much of real importance. The younger lad chimes in at some parts, but mainly focusing on whipping up the frosting to the prime consistency, of thick and still creamy.

“Damn, Jer that looks delicious,” Compliments Jack, snapping Jeremy out of his tunnel vision of concentration.

“Thanks, I’ve tried to perfect this recipe for years,” Says Jeremy, slapping Michaels hand away from the bowl as the other tries to get a taste, “Hey, you can try it when it’s on the cake,” Scolds Jeremy, laughing with the others.

“Come on Lil’J just a small taste?” Asks Gavin, his voice a near beg.

“I mean, you should let us try some if you want to keep our faith in your baking ability’s with…. Fifteen plus minutes of cooking and waiting time,” Ryan argues, pausing to look at the oven’s timer.

Jeremy sighs and motions for the others to try, “Just a bit! I still have to cover a whole cake,” Jeremy shouts.

The six sins quickly dip their pinkies into the bowl of frosting and eat it, all men’s eyes widening at the flavor, and making Gavin choke on a moan in reaction on how delicious it is.

“Oh, fuck me, this is _the_ shit,” Michael announces, looking excitedly at Jeremy.

“I agree, holy shit,” Ray says.

“This is almost as good as sex,” Geoff admits, earning a look of ‘really’ from everyone else, even from Jeremy.

“ _Almost_ , guy’s geez,” Complains Geoff, as he jokingly looks longingly at the bowl of frosting, making the other men chuckle.

“It’s very fucking good,” Jack tells Jeremy.

“Hypothetically what would be the chance to get another taste of the frosting?” Asks Ryan, receiving a scoff from Jeremy, as the younger grabs the bowl and pops it into the fridge.

“Very low, right now at least, but after it’s put on the cake you can have as much as you want,” Jeremy answers, earning a whine from the sins.

“All in enjoyable time and the cake can be _all_ yours,” Jeremy says to the six men.

The six men look at the remaining timer on the cake, and then turn to the living room the same idea all popping into their head, “How about a quick fifteen-minute rematch from last night Lil’J?” Geoff offers Jeremy.

The younger shoots the older sin a serious expression, “You’re on. You only won because I was half asleep,” Agrees and argues Jeremy.

The lads' race into the living room, and turn on the Xboxes, the three gents staying in the kitchen a second longer as they all look at one another, all thinking the same thing, of ‘this is working out.’ 

 

 

­­­­­­­­­­­­­ “Are you kidding me! I was right fucking there!” Shouts Jeremy, massing the button to respawn before it too late, “You didn’t need to kill me, Ryan! We’re four points behind your team!” Jeremy adds, earning a deep chuckle from Ryan.

“It would’ve been three, if I didn’t kill you,” Ryan responds, then groans in annoyance as Jeremy’s character turns a corner and shoots Ryan’s in the head, killing the other.

The five other sins cheer as an achievement pops up on Jeremy’s screen, saying; ‘Revenge shot’. Jeremy shoots a satisfied smirk at Ryan and captures a point for his team.

“How did you get this good overnight?” Exclaims Ryan, narrowly dodging another attack from Jeremy.

“Well he did have five of the most skilled video gamers schooling him,” Michael says wrapping an arm around Jeremy’s shoulder’s, making the younger lad freeze and try to ignore the overwhelming urge to yank his body away from the other lad’s touch.        

Luckily the timer on the stove goes off, and Jeremy quickly pops out of his seat and out of Michael’s arm around him. Tossing the controller over to Geoff, he quickly goes into the kitchen.

The six sins pause the game and look over at to where Jeremy was sitting before something snapped with the younger lad, and changed the relaxed atmosphere of the living room, into something cold and anxiety filled.

The three gents and three lads leave the living room, and head into the kitchen area where Jeremy frantically checks the cake by stabbing it with a toothpick.

The younger lad pulls out the cakes completely, turns off the oven and closes the oven door, before turning around, his eyes widening as he becomes startled at the sight of all six sins standing in the kitchen all watching Jeremy with slightly confused and worried expressions.

Jeremy swallows a lump in his throat and smiles at the other men, it not quite reaching his eyes, “The cake is done, all that’s left is to cool, and then to frost,” Jeremy announces, setting down the two cake pans on the counter a hot pad under each one.

“If you guys want, you can keep playing videos games and I can stay here and frost the cake, it’s the least fun part of baking,” Jeremy offers nervously, as the other sins just stand and look at Jeremy in silence.

“Sorry if freaked you out, the timer went off and-,”

“Jeremy it’s fine if you want us to leave the kitchen for a bit that’s alright,” Jack interrupts Jeremy, the younger looking slightly taken back as the sin almost reads his mind.

“Uh, yeah if you can, I want to prepare some more stuff for the cake, y’know make it more of a surprise, ” Jeremy says quickly, the older sins nod in understanding.

“We’re gonna go upstairs and change into some fresher clothing if you need anything we’ll be up there,” Ryan adds.

Jeremy feels slightly unsettled under the eyes of six other men, all looking at him with concern. The lads looking at him with a puzzled look in their eyes, “I’ll make sure to tell you if I somehow catch the kitchen on fire,” Jeremy says trying to joke, wanting the room to feel a lot less of parents scolding one of their children.

The younger lad smiles and feels accomplished at the other men crack a smile, “seriously go do whatever, I’ll be fine down here, and hell maybe when you return a the forbidden cake might be finished,” Jeremy tells the others.

“Fucking awesome,” Speaks up Michael, probably him being the most excited for the cake besides Ryan and Ray.

The six then leave Jeremy in the kitchen and head upstairs, the three gents planning on having their discussion about Jeremy with the Lads, once upstairs.

After the others leave, Jeremy turns back to the two cakes and feels relieved that they are baked perfectly. Glad that he still has his baking abilities, and that he’s still got something that links the old Jeremy to the Jeremy he is _now_.

 

* * *

 

 

Once the six sins reach their shared bedroom and close the door behind themselves, Michael opens his mouth to shout out. Only for Geoff to cut him off by dragging the younger man by his shirt to meet his lips, silencing the lad before he can start vocalizing his thoughts.

“Knowing you, Jeremy will hear whatever you were going to say,” Geoff says, pulling away from Michael, “Also none of us got private morning time together so,” Continues the tattooed sin, looking at the others in slight disappointment.

“God, you’re such a needy old man,” Teases Michael, going over to their shared closet to grab clothes for the others and himself.

“We’d show more affection if Jeremy wasn’t around to see a peek,” Gavin says, tone a bit annoyed. The others look at the brit in surprise at Gavin’s tone, catching his mistake Gavin waves his arms and tries to explain himself, “No! I mean that-Maybe we shouldn’t hide away our _thing_ ,” Protests Gavin.

“Our _relationship_?” Clarifies Ray, taking the fresh shirt and pants from Michael.

“Yes, you mong,” Gavin says, “I don’t think Jeremy’s the kind of guy to be put off about it,” Gavin continues.

“I mean he did take us being some of the seven sins pretty well, and in my book, I think being demons is a little worse than being in one big gay, emotional fuck fest with one another,” Agrees Ray, making the others chuckle at Ray’s way of describing their relationship.

“And we agree too,” Says Ryan pointing at the other two gents, “But, he’s still getting to know us, and he’s already pretty skittish about some things,” Ryan adds trailing off at the end.

Michael continues hands over more clean clothes to the others, receiving their clothes they all begin to change in silence only to be interrupted by Jack.

“Can we actually talk about Jeremy?”

“What about? That he’s clearly got some fucking issues,” Michael answers, slipping on a shirt.

“He’s certainly troubled by something,” Geoff chimes in.

“Yes, that too,”

“What else is there?” Gavin questions.

The three gents look at one another the switch their gaze towards the three suddenly puzzled lads, “Did any of you feel any…. Strong emotions with Jeremy?” Jack asked a little uncertain.

The lads all start to pore over all their interactions from yesterday and so far, today, both Ray and Michael eyes widen as they think back at the shopping trip from the day before.

“Fuck me, yeah I did,” Michael admits, remembering back to Jeremy anger after returning to the cart felt a little stronger then anger from other humans.

“Same here, it felt as like it was coming off in one big powerful wave,” adds Ray.

“Jack and Ryan have felt the same thing, whatever it is. It’s something I’ve never heard of,” Geoff says.

“I’ve felt it again twice today, it’s definitely an off kinda thing,” Ryan admits.

Gavin studies the other sins words as they continue to talk, he watches them with a look of confusion on his face, “What the bleeding hell are you all going on about?” Gavin gawks out in puzzlement on what exactly the conversation is about.   

“For some fucking reason, Jeremy’s emotions are released like a nuke that only hits one of us,” Michael explains, himself becoming frustrated and confused at the younger lad’s unusual emotional signals.

“Have you felt anything like that Gav?” Jack asks.

“Like what feeling lust? I’m pretty sure that Lil’J is like an anti-lust,” Gavin admits, “Otherwise I can read his emotions the same as any other human,” He adds, flopping himself down on the bed.

After a moment of thinking in silence, Ryan speaks up, “Should we like- Tell him about us? Like our ‘powers’- I mean maybe he knows something about his excessive emotional discharge,” He wonders, looking at the other sins.

“Maybe, but Jeremy might not take it well,” Jack says, rubbing at his beard in thought.

“I’m worried that the kid will think that we’ve been reading his mind, and he clearly has secrets that he’s wanting to keep to himself,” Geoff admits.

“He’s sure jumpy,” Ryan observes.

“You think that some motherfucker abused him or something? Or maybe he ran away from something,” Michael countered, silently hoping that it’s not either of the two.     

“No, maybe. Fuck, I hope not, he seems like such a nice kid,” Geoff says, making them fall into another uneasy silence of the possibilities of Jeremy and his past.

“I like him,” Gavin blurts out, the other sins heads looking down at the lad, him still laying down on the bed, “He’s different, I can already tell. _Bernie_ was different, Burnie knew who we were and didn’t care, and I think Jeremy might be the same way,” Gavin finishes, all the sins looking at one another in surprise, due to the calm, certainty of Gavin’s voice.

“Wow Vav, I think that was one of the most intelligent sentences you’ve ever said,” Ray tells Gavin.

“Oh, sod off,” Chides Gavin, cheekily throwing a pillow at the other lad.

“So, you’re saying that we should tell Jeremy?” Asks Jack.

“Yes, he’s saying that, and I agree,” Ryan says, “It’s better to tell him now, then to wait. Remember when we told Burnie?”

“He fucking shot me! He thought we’ve been planting emotions into his brain for years,” Geoff shouts, rubbing at the phantom feel of the gun wound in his shoulder.

“Exactly why we need to tell Jeremy sooner than later,” Ryan adds, his saying being justified by Geoff outburst.

“And we should wait a bit to tell him about our relationship we don’t want to overload the kid's brain,” Jack speaks up, the gents idea sounding understandable to the other sins.

“Awesome, now we know what the plan is. Can we _now_ get our morning kisses?” Whines Michael, making the other laugh at the lads’ needy tone.

Ryan grabs Michael by the back of the neck and pulls him into a kiss, the other sins begin to crowd around the two, still quietly laughing, but agreeing with Michael that morning kisses do sound pretty good.

“Who’s the needy old man now?” Gavin says playfully, making Michael detach from Ryan and tackle Gavin back onto the bed.

They all end on the bed, limb all intertwined with one another. Their all puffy-lipped and slightly out of breath, when a nearly audible knock on the door snaps them out of their dazed, and a bit of oxygen-deprived, state of mind.

“If you guys are in there, I wanted to tell you that the cake is finished and ready to eat,” announces Jeremy, his voice slightly muffled from the door in front of him.

“Thanks, Jeremy! Be down in a sec,” Hollers Geoff, hearing a muffled ‘cool’ and footsteps pattering away from the door and stepping down stairs.    

The six sins hastily untangle themselves and get up, they put on their remaining clothes and straighten out their appearance. Before leaving the room, they all make the agreement to talk with Jeremy once the time is right, then with one last of round of quick pecks, they exit and head downstairs a game plan set.

 

 

Entering back into the kitchen from upstairs, the younger lad looks over proudly at his creation. Jeremy looks over at the clock on the stove and sees that it’s nearly one o’clock, realizing that with him waiting for the cake to dry, making an extra filler for the cakes, and frosting the cake with some more topping he made, took about an hour and a half.

Not thinking much on what the others were doing altogether in the same room, Jeremy cleans up some more of his dishes and wipes away some drippings from the cake on the counter and waits for the six sins to head down and try his cake.

Jeremy feels oddly giddy at the thought of someone once again eating his creations, that he works so hard to be good. He could tell from the others that they’re excited to try it, he pushes away the intrusive thoughts that they’re just pitying him and are only acting to make the younger lad feel better, but Jeremy knows that their reactions are genuine after seeing lies for so many years.

Admiring his cake, Jeremy himself feels the urge to dip his finger into the frosting to try it but stops as he reminds himself that he made the cake for the others. And if there’s a piece left over, he’ll take that after everyone had enough.

His gaze on the cake shifts as he hears multiple pairs of footsteps head down. He steps in front of the cake to hide it away from the other men, Jeremy wanting to do a grand reveal for the cake.

“Smells good, Lil’J,” Compliments Gavin, as they all look around the kitchen trying to find the cake, that’s hidden behind Jeremy.  

“Where’s the cake?” Michael questions, making Jeremy snicker at the confused expression of the six men.  

“Alright, if you all can please, close your eyes,” Jeremy tells the others, as he tries to smother the anxiety beginning to rush through his body.  

The six sins look quizzically at Jeremy but nod and close their eyes anyways. Jeremy hums and turns around and picks up the cake and rests it on the middle, in front of him and the others.

“Keep your eyes shut…. Okay open them eyes,” Says Jeremy, anxiously rubbing his hands together, as the other men’s eyes flash open

Simultaneously all eyes widen in amazement at the sight of Jeremy’s cake.

The cake is beautifully and almost professionally decorated and frosted. The homemade frosting smoothly spread on the cake, almost having a near mirror affect coming off it, with piped frosting around the top of the cake a perfectly white spiral of chocolate in the center.

“Holy shit kid,” Geoff murmurs in awe, “No fucking way this is made this from cake-mix from a box,” Admits Geoff, stepping forward to get a better look at the cake, the others following along.

“This- You can eat this right?” Jack asks, making Jeremy laugh.

“Of fucking course! Who would make something that’s edible and not eat it,” Scoff Jeremy, thinking that the others might be taking this a little too far, “It’s just a cake,” Jeremy says.

“Doesn’t even look real,” Gavin tells Jeremy, looking up from the cake to Jeremy.

“I’ve been alive long enough to know that this might be one of the best cakes I’ve ever seen,”

“I’m almost afraid to eat it, it looks so fucking good,”

“Are you sure you’re not a professional baker?” 

Jeremy’s face and neck start to feel warm as the others keep complimenting him and his cake, not hearing such honest positive response to his baking in so long, Jeremy sort of wants to cry, but decides not to, and that it may look good, but it might taste awful.

“Well it might look good, I don’t know if it’ll taste as good,” Jeremy voices his thoughts, interrupting the others as they continue to mutter in shock of the cake.

“You mean you haven’t fucking tried it!” Blurts out Michael, making Jeremy nervously laugh.

“No…. I wanted you guys to try it first,” Jeremy explains, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly.

“Ryan get the plates, Gavin and Michael grab the forks,” Geoff says suddenly, making the others immediately follows the gents’ orders.

Jeremy watches the other men in confusion, smirking as he sees a joking kind of determination in the eyes of the others, “Guess, you really want to try my cake huh?” Laughs Jeremy, pushing the cake forward a bit more.

Setting down the plates, and forks, all sins grab one of each while Jack hands Jeremy a large knife, “You made it, you get the honor of dishing it out,” Michael says.

Chuckling Jeremy takes the knife and makes the first cut into the cake.

Carefully putting a slice of cake on each of the sins plates, Jeremy talks about how he made an extra filling and saying that he found a small bar of white chocolate to put a ‘little something extra’ on top, as Jeremy says.

The others follow along with every word Jeremy says. Amazed that this was once just a dollar, store-bought cake-mix, now a homemade masterpiece that makes the others want to dig in and yet preserve it at the same time.

“Alright, now fucking eat my cake,” Jeremy finishes, “Seeing that it’s your breakfast and kind of lunch, hope it satisfies two meals in one,” Jeremy jokes.

Laughing the six men take the first bite, then they all freeze, making Jeremy’s blood stop.

Theirs a terrible silence that follows the first bite, to Jeremy it feels like days are going by as he can’t read the other men expressions.

Slightly panicking at the others keep eating the cake with no words, Jeremy hears his blood rushing through him and quickly goes to clarify whatever is going through the sins heads.

“Sorry, if it’s not the best, it’s been a while since I’ve baked something. I mean it can’t be perfect it’s still just a cheap box of cake-mix-,”

“It may be just a box cake, but its fucking awesome!” Declares Michael interrupting Jeremy mid-ramble.

“I’m taking back what I said earlier, it _is_ better than sex,” Geoff admits.

“I uh, what?” Jeremy splutters out, not expecting this.

“This is really fucking good, Jeremy, it tastes exactly as it looks,” Ryan hums, never ever having eaten something baked this good before in his long life of living.

“Geoff, I love you, but Jeremy’s now in charge of the kitchen,” Jack announces, making Geoff look at the other in betrayal before taking another bite and silently agreed with Jack.

“I don’t think I’ve ever wanted to cry because of cake before,” Ray jokingly sniffs, digging into the cake. 

“It’s so bloody top!” Shouts Gavin, shoving another bite into his mouth, “How did you even do this?” he continues.

“Well…. I-I guess practice? I baked a shit ton when I was younger,” Jeremy answers, his tone trailing off into a mix of happiness and sadness.

The others stop shoving their cake into their faces and look up at Jeremy.

“What made you stop?” Questions Michael.

“I know that yesterday, you told us that you have stupid shit that goes along with baking, but what does that mean?” Ray adds.

Jeremy leans against the counter and wraps his arms around himself, and hesitates before responding to the others, going against everything in his body, as it tells him to brush it off and lie to the sins, but Jeremy shakes it off having a weird feeling that he _should_ tell the others.

“You don’t have to explain to us, we can just forget and keep eating your ‘better-than-sex’ cake,” Offers Ryan, making Jeremy and others crack a smile.

Jeremy sighs, “No, I wanna tell you guys,” Jeremy admits, moving to rest his chin in his hand, looking like a tired teenager in their last class of the day.

“My baking ‘career’,” Starts Jeremy raising his hands up to do air quotes, “Started when I was a sophomore in high school- Wait did any of you go to school?” Jeremy asks, suddenly very interested in the other’s life.

“I guess not, but from what we read now and days, it seems like it sucks,” Geoff answers.

Chuckling, Jeremy continues, “It does, but I did learn somethings,” he agrees.

“Like baking? Or is that not even a class?” Jack questions.

“It is a class, but it’s super lame. And I didn’t learn baking at school, I was just still in school,” Jeremy tells the other man, as he motions for Jeremy to continue.

“My best friend at the time, and I-,”

“ _At the time_? What does that mean? Are you two no longer friends?” Gavin wonders, liking that they're getting to know more about Jeremy.

“Well…. _Matt_ and I left on some bad terms, but he was the one who actually told me about this job,” Jeremy admits, he’s friends name sounding sour on his tongue as he remembers that it’s been, again _two_ days since he talked to him.

The six sins eyes all widen, “Is he Burnie’s grandkid?” Questions Michael.

“No, he just works with Burnie’s grandkid, he overheard and-,”

“But before he told you, you were already in Austin,” Says Ryan, thinking back to the day before and Jeremy’s story of him ending up at the rest stop with no memory as to how. 

“Yeah, called him up and received the job,” Jeremy says fiddling with his hands, “But I don’t think he’s gotten over my violent departure,” Jeremy adds sadly.

“So, with the baking?” Ray asks, feeling that Jeremy wants to change topics.

“Oh yeah, well me and _Matt_ , had the house to himself for the weekend, so I stayed over, and we jokingly made a cake, but I started to realize that it was fun baking shit, and after it was done I knew it was worth it when he ate his entire piece on one bite,” Jeremy says smiling at the memory.

“He told me it was the best cake he’s ever got to eat before. So, I kept baking, I began to try new things whenever I could, sold some sweets on the side during school, until I almost got suspended for ‘money laundering’ or some shit like that,” Jeremy says still a little angry about it, the other notice Jeremy’s expression of anger and begin to laugh loudly.

“It was public school bitches, worse shit happened then,” Retorts Jeremy, laughing along.

“But, even then I still baked not expecting really anything in return,” Jeremy continues once the laughter dies down.

“Then what made you stop baking if that didn’t?” Gavin asks Michael’s original question still not being answers by the younger lad.

“Time and money, I guess,” Jeremy shrugs, “I would try to bake when I could…. But I lost the comfort I got from baking, the control and freedom I got from doing it,” He admits, shakily.

“I didn’t really have anybody to appreciate what I made besides my girlfriend, but much _later_ than _sooner_ , I found out that she was just throwing everything out, so I just stopped….,” Jeremy murmured, his voice ending at a near whisper.    

The six sins, stand frozen a bit stunned at Jeremy’s confession, Ray starts to pick up the overwhelming _exhaustion_ he felt from Jeremy the day before. Michael picks up on some anger radiating off the younger lad, flickering like a lit candle in a windy room.

And surprisingly Gavin and Geoff feel the younger lad’s _want_ and need, for just _something_ , but not anything specific that the two can pick up on.

They all remember that they need to talk to Jeremy about his emotion-bomb.

“Your girlfriend sounds like a bitch,” Michael says, angrily taking a bite of his semi-forgotten cake, shocking Jeremy out of his beginning funk.

“Hopefully, _ex_ -girlfriend, Right?” Geoff questions, earning a curt nod from Jeremy.

“Cheated on me a day before I left,” Jeremy admits before he can contain it.

“Mega bitch then,” Ray corrects, earning a quiet snicker from Jeremy.      

“Sure,” Jeremy says, “Thanks for letting me talk about that,” Thanks, Jeremy, a bit shyly.

“Anytime Lil’J,” Gavin says smiling at Jeremy, the younger giving one back in return.

“Now, please eat the rest of your slice before it goes dry,” Orders Jeremy, going to grab a bowl to cover the rest of the cake.

“What do you think you’re doing?” Geoff speaks up, stopping Jeremy.

“Uh putting away the cake?” Jeremy responds, confused.

Ryan goes and grabs an extra plate and puts a slice of Jeremy’s own cake on it, “Your masterpiece, you gotta appreciate how good your baking is,” He says, sliding it over to the younger lad.

Feeling pride coming off Jeremy, a little less intense at it was before, Ryan smiles as the younger lad takes a bite from his own cake, “This is _really_ good,” Jeremy announces, sounding less surprised then what his words were.

“Didn’t make us shit our pants though,” Michael says, sounding disappointed.

“That’ll be something you can work up too, Lil’J,” Jack says, making the laughter become louder and more boisterous.

“I’ll name it the ‘shits and giggles’, and nothing I’ll bake after that will ever top that,” Jeremy replies, smirking at the others looking dead serious.

They continue eating their cake and laugh more about Jeremy’s future creations, and by the time they all finished their slices, Jeremy has a mental list on what he’s to make next and a list of challenges the other men have challenged him to make. To Jeremy, it sounds like the lists will take weeks or even _months_ of work, and practice to accomplish.

But Jeremy can’t find it in himself to care all that much because he’s found out that the spark that’s been smothered for what has been years, has been re-lit and ready to start burning again.

“Jeremy,” speaks up Ray, “You still livin’ in the real world?” He jokes.

“Yeah, just spacing out,” Jeremy admits, noticing that the others all looking at him, like their wanting Jeremy to reply to something, “What did you say?” Jeremy asks.

“We need to talk about some stuff…. Is the living room okay? we’re getting kind of tired standing up,” Geoff repeats, getting a surprisingly calm response from the younger lad.

“Totally, what do we need to talk about?” Questions Jeremy following the others into the living room.

“Nothing serious, but some stuff we need to clear up,” Gavin answers.

 

 

They once again find themselves in the living room, but this time instead of playing video games and yelling at one another, the sins begin to start to converse with Jeremy about the younger lads expressive and vibrant emotions and how their ‘powers’ work.

“So, let me get this right, you guys are like empaths?” Jeremy asks, making the sins all look at him in shock and slight confusion.

“That’s all your gonna ask? No questions of, ‘can you manipulate my emotions’ or ‘read my mind’, and more importantly no questions about you and your weird ass emotions!” Geoff stresses out, his pitch increasing as he keeps speaking.

Jeremy just shrugs, earning a frustrated sigh from the rest of the men.

“I mean it makes some sense, empaths already exist, and they can’t read minds their just really, _really_ good at reading people and their emotions,” Jeremy offers, “And I understand that my emotions are a little wacky-,”

“It feels like a mini fucking nuke that just hit beside you, but without the pain,” Michael interrupts.

“ _See_ , I can understand that they affect you differently than other humans, but I have no clue as to why it is happening, If I could control it I would, I don’t want to overwhelm you so much by my feelings,” Jeremy continues, getting up to stand in front of the six confused and frustrated men.

“It’s only really bad when you feel an emotion that we're linked too, like whenever you get prideful, Ryan picks up on it, or when you get angry, Michael feels it,” Jack clarifies.  

“Okay, makes sense,” Jeremy says slowly.

“Can you really just understand it that easily?” Ryan questions.

“Sure, I mean your all demons in the first place, so I don’t even know shit about how you guys work? Or live, I guess,” Jeremy explains.

“You took us being bloody demons, pretty damn well for a human,” Gavin gawks, looking at Jeremy, “Even Burnie thought we were lying for years until one of nearly died and came back a few hours earlier, perfectly fine!” The brit adds.

“I just think he’s in some sort of shock by now,” Geoff groans, and aggressively rubs at his face.

“Can’t I just say I’m a very open person, and I just don’t care that much anymore?” Jeremy huffs.

“I guess,” Michael shrugs, “But it’s gonna hit you like a brick, and you’ll start freaking out about living with a bunch of men who are demons, who can read minds and capture souls,” Michael continues, getting up and waving his hands into Jeremy’s face.

“Michael, you ass, we don’t do any of those things,” Chided Gavin, starting a bicker-fest to happen between the two sins, ending up as a wrestling war on the floor, with Ray chanting on the two. The lad stopping once Geoff and Jack send him a chilling look.

Ryan goes to break up the two on the floor, and Geoff gets up from the couch and looks down at the other sins and Jeremy.

“Let’s just summarize what happened, Jeremy doesn’t care-,”

“I do! Just that this entire thing makes more scene to me then you thought it would,” Jeremy argues, interrupting the older gent, making the room go still.

 “I’m starting to think you may not be human,” Speculates Ryan, making Jeremy snort, and the others muffle their laughter, but fail miserably.

“Until you can prove otherwise, _Rye-bread,_ I’m a hundred percent human meat,” Teases Jeremy, making the whole room burst out into loud giggling.

And that was the end of the dreaded conversation with Jeremy and the sins.

 

* * *

 

  

Their days soon pass faster than any of the men could’ve expected, but after the first two days of rocky and awkward conversations and the long semi-tense silence that would begin between the seven men.

They all begin to work around one another, the lives of the six sins never needing to change making it seem that Jeremy’s been living with them already for years.

The seven men learn more about one another as the days go along. Jeremy learns more about what it’s like to be alive for so long and learns more about how they all came together, how they all decided to create a crew.

They all agreed to do so for the reasons of one; they were bored, and two; they wanted money and many other things.

And not exactly being human with no such paperwork to become a legal person, made it very hard to get an honest job and start an honest living.

But they all decided the best next decision was to get a _dishonest_ job and start a _dishonest_ life.

So, they created a mob called _Fake AH Crew_ , then after a while, they joined up with some trustworthy humans they knew.

The houses previous owner, _Burnie_ , being one of them.

Jeremy continues to learn over dinner about Burnie and how the six sins met him, including how they all started to work together.

Apparently, Burnie oversaw a pretty successful mob before meeting Geoff. The two decided to split away from they’re mob and start their own mini-mob called _The Roosters_ with some of Burnie’s most loyal friends.

The two became four, then six and eventually they had enough people that they basically ruled the criminal world. Then same along Gavin who was a destined sin of lust to Geoff’s sin of greed and gluttony. After Gavin, the other sins started to show, and they all soon became their own crew with the reluctant blessing from Burnie and the other founders of _The Roosters._

Over the same dinner, the six sins learned that Jeremy _horrifically_ bad with movies. When they kept joking about movies that Geoff and Michael, both _swear_ that the movie ideas were taken from things they did in the past.

But with every reference to movies, they realized each one kept falling flat to the younger lad. Him becoming more and more confused as they kept listing movies that Jeremy’s never seen or heard of.

After that same dinner and for the next week, they watched every movie that was deemed a classic by the six sins. The younger lad slowly understanding more of the other men’s references, but to the six sins, the younger lad was _far_ from understanding everything they reference.

With playing more games with the six sins and becoming significantly better and better, Jeremy learns that the six sins become pretty competitive when it comes to video games, and in return, they saw that the younger lad becomes more energetic and slightly combative when playing games together.

Leading the six sins to look at each other in surprise one night, when Jeremy single handily beats them all, their pupil finally beating the masters in just six days.    

The seven men days sadly weren’t all fun and games as the younger lad, still had to work around during the day, where Jeremy would continue fixing up minor things around the house, and surprisingly receiving help from Michael after when the younger lad tried to rewire a lighting fixture, and nearly electrocuting Jeremy. Michael tells Jeremy that once back years ago, he took up a minor electrician’s job and learned to do minor things, light fixtures being the only thing the lad picked up on.

Slowly with the help of Michael, the younger lad replaces all the light fixtures with modern-ish ones. Continuing the day’s work around the house, sometimes with the others help if they saw him around, them all boldly making Jeremy _let_ them help him out.

Making the younger lad, reluctantly letting them help him out, even though Jeremy knows he can do almost everything without help from another. But he can’t argue that it’s more fun to work with another person, especially if they know nothing about fixing the simplest of things, and failing miserably when they try.   

But besides the movie nights, and eating wonderful homemade dinner, thanks to Geoff. And the long, yet fun-filled days all ending with seven men passed out on the couch, exhausted from staying up late at night video gaming and laughing.

As the days go by, Jeremy notices that the six men all share the same room, and probably share the same bed. By the fourth day, Jeremy already knows that the six men are with one another, or at least fucking each other. Jeremy decides not to say anything, pretending that he doesn’t notice the obvious longingly looks and intimate touching.  

Thinking that if the other men, who are very quickly becoming some of the friends, want to keep their ‘thing’ a secret, Jeremy will let them. Knowing that the others will eventually tell Jeremy themselves.

“Do you guys have any paper? I can’t find a single fucking thing paper in this house!” Shouts Jeremy, frantically looking around the house, the younger lad suddenly remembering that he’s to write a letter to Ms. Burns before the month ends, which is less than two days.

“Look in the kitchen I think there’s a notepad in there!” Shouts down Ryan, making Jeremy rush into the kitchen almost running into Michael, who was getting a beer from the fringe. The day being nearly done.

Jeremy finds the pad of paper and drops it on the counter with a frustrated groan.

“Fuck!” Curses Jeremy, exiting the kitchen only to run into Ryan this time.

“What’s wrong, can you not find the notepad?” Ryan asks, shooting a look at Michael who’s trying to smother his laughter into his hand.

“Why do you even need the note pad?” Michael questions, fake coughing away his laughter at Jeremy’s frustration.

“I don’t need the notepad,” Huffs Jeremy, “I _need_ paper, not shit yellow notepad paper, like really _good_ and _professional_ paper,” Jeremy adds, pushing his way past into the living room, where the other men are hanging out in, all very confused in Jeremy’s sudden need for paper.

“Why?” Ask Gavin.

“Letter!” Shouts Jeremy heading upstairs to look for paper.

The six sins look at one another in confusion and slight amusement at the younger lad getting worked up over paper.

“ _Letter_?” Mouths Ray, earning a shrug from Geoff.

“What letter Jeremy?” Calls up Geoff, only for Jeremy to rush down the stairs with some paper and pens in hand.

“Good, you found some paper,” Teasingly cheers Ryan, as Jeremy waves off the older man and heads back into the kitchen, returning with the yellow notepad.

Jeremy sits on the couch between Jack and Ray and pours all his stuff on the coffee table, kicking off Rays feet that were resting on it.

“Do you guys know where the note is?” Quickly asks Jeremy, looking at the sins who are all now spread around the living room, all facing Jeremy.

“What note? The one you got from Burnie’s kid?” Says Jack, looking down at the stuff laid out on the table.

“Yes, that one!” Angrily sneers Jeremy, making the hairs on the back of Michaels' neck stand up.

Instantly feeling bad for snapping at the kind sin, Jeremy huffs and limply leans back into the couch, covering his eyes with his arms in frustration and guilt.

Hearing the men in the room shuffle about, Jeremy makes himself sink deeper into the couch sad and afraid as his outburst.

“Come on Lil’J, we got your note,” Cooed Gavin making Jeremy shift his arms to see past them, only to be met with Gavin’s face.

Looking next to Gavin’s face is Ryan holding up a thoroughly crumbled up paper.

Fully putting down his arms and slowly leaning back up. Jeremy watches as Ryan smiles and puts the letter down on the coffee table next to the other papers.

“What’s the letter for, Jeremy?” Geoff asks, “Do you need to like? Respond to Burnie’s kid,” he continues.

“Yeah, she’s wanting me to send her a letter and summarize everything I’ve done to the house, costs and other things,” Admits Jeremy, “She wants a letter at the end of each month, and the end of the month is in one and a half day,” Jeremy sighs.

“Does she want it _by_ the end of the month? Or does she want you to start writing by the end?” Questions Jack.

“No fucking clue, she just said at the end of the month,” Jeremy replies.

After a moments silence, as the six sins think of an easier and quicker way to send Burnie’s kid a letter. Michael suggest something, “You could email it to her?”

Jeremy laughs, “That’d be great but I for one don’t have an email, and two; what’s even worse is that I don’t have Ms. Burns address!” Jeremy exclaims.

“You don’t have a fucking email! What year are you living in?” Questions Geoff, “We even have an email, and we don’t even have anybody to email!” The gent continues.

“We only got emails for video games and shipping reminders,” Admits Ray.

“Technically, they’re the only things email is honestly good for,” Says Ryan, the others nodding in agreement.

“Glad that we’ve figured out what email is really used for, but I still need to somehow send this lady a letter,” Jested Jeremy.

Picking up the letter off the table, Gavin flips over the letter and squawks in surprise, “Her bloody address is on the back!”

“What!” Jeremy shouts, standing up from his seat and taking the letter from the other lads’ hands. Marveling over the letter, and slapping his hand on his forehead.   

“I’m an idiot!” Says the younger lad smiling, “It’s got her address and her fucking email right here!” he yells, and the others laugh.

Jeremy sits back down, tossing the note back onto the table as all six sins all crowded closer around the younger lad, watching as he starts drafting his letter on the notepad.

“You’re writing a draft first, how classy of you Jeremy,” Michael teases.

“It’s my first letter to her, I want it to sound semi-professional,” Replies Jeremy, trying to remember how much the stuff from the hardware store was, “Plus I get money from her and I want the letter to sound like I know what the hell I’m doing,” Jeremy adds.

“I mean you know more than us, that’s something,” Jack tells Jeremy.

“Yeah, we just nailed wood onto a hole and said, ‘fuck it’,” Ray continues off Jack, “Also, you’re not gonna tell Burnie’s kid about us, right?” the lad continues.

“We still want to keep out lives out here hush, hush. And I think if Burnie’s family knew that a couple of his old demon friends live here, it would freak them out a bit,” Says Ryan, silently pointing out an error in Jeremy’s spelling.

“Totally, I understand completely,” Jeremy reassures the six sins, “But I’m confused how after all these years, none of Burnie’s family figured out you that guys living here,” Jeremy adds, voicing a question the seven men have all been thinking of for the past couple of days.

“I mean Burnie set aside money for _someone_ to fix up the house and he didn’t bother to tell any of us about it,” Michael speaks up.

The six sins suddenly all look at Jeremy like a switch just flipped in their minds, Jacks picks up the note from the coffee table and reads over once again aloud.

“She does say that Burnie set aside money in his will, did he plan for something like this to happen?” Jack questions, earning a scoff from Jeremy.

“That’s impossible, there’s no way he could’ve predicted that his family would hire someone to come fix up the house with knowing that you guy’s still living here.”

“Maybe he thought we’d kill the bloke he hired,” Gavin offers, his tone the opposite of serious.

“That’s a possibility seeing that we attacked Jeremy, but Burnie probably thought we would’ve had already moved out when he died,” Says Geoff, making Michael look at Jeremy with an apologetic expression.

“I mean we didn’t really stay in one spot for that long,” Ray admits.

“Yeah, well you must when you got the law crawling up your ass,” Michael agrees, “Seeing that we moved here after we ‘retired’ we didn’t really need to move around safehouse to safehouse,” the lad adds.

“We made it our home, can’t really run when you have nowhere to run to,” Ryan speaks up as he stands up, “Knowing Burnie he was the kinda guy who planned ahead, and I don’t doubt that could’ve planned something like this to happen, even from beyond the grave,” The gent continues.

The other men nod in understanding, Jeremy nods along but is still confused on how everything was put together, and again how no family members tried to live in the apparently abandoned family home.

Knowing one way to get answers, Jeremy takes his phone out of his pant pockets and decides to call Matt.

“Whoa, what is that?” Questions Ray jokingly towards Jeremy’s flip phone that Matt gave the younger lad before he left.

“No offense buddy, but did you pick that up at the front section of a drugstore?” Geoff chimes in, thinking that it’s quite unusual to see a person this day and age without a smartphone of some kind, then again Geoff thinks that Jeremy’s quite the unusual human.

“Maybe, Matt gave it to me,” Jeremy shrugs, knowing that he’s told the sins more about his friend back home over the past few days, “Cheaper than an iPhone,” The younger lad adds, chuckling.

Jeremy scrolls through the messages that Matt has been sending him. The night that Jeremy realized that he didn’t text back Matt after two days of getting to the house and the job, the younger lad immediately texted him saying he was alright and that the house is crazy yet empty, feeling slightly guilty for lying to his best friend.

Matt texted him back hours later saying that his schedule changed and that Jeremy’s the biggest idiot for making Matt almost have another heart attack over Jeremy’s recurring inactivity with communication.

Catching up with Matt, Jeremy’s guilt swelled as he lied more about the house and it has no occupants in it. But the younger lad knowing that the six-other guy’s it’s important to keep their existence under wraps.

The two ended their conversation in a positive light and Jeremy felt a weight lift off his shoulders.

“Who are you trying to call?” Gavin questions leaning over Jeremy’s shoulder surprised that the younger lad isn’t shoving him off or flinching away.     

“Matt,” Jeremy says making the six sins open their mouths in protest, “I just want some more information about the job I was hired to do,” Jeremy tells them looking up at the other men, “And don’t worry I won’t tell him about you, I’ve already lied to him that I’m here alone and I’m planning on keeping that way,” Jeremy adds.

“You’ve been talking to _Matt_?” Jack asks, slightly worried.

“Yes, I keep neglecting to update my life to him and like I said day’s ago I left abruptly and violently so, he’s concerned on how I’m doing,” Jeremy answers, fiddling with his phone in his hands.

Jeremy hears the six sins sigh, some in relief and some in frustration, “Just make sure not to mention us, and you can talk to your friend as much as you want, deal?” Geoff suggests.

“Deal, now if you want you can stay and hear what Matt’s gonna say,” Jeremy agrees, “Or you can go start some dinner that might actually be on time tonight,” he adds.

“Like we’re gonna miss you talking to your boy-toy,” Michael teases, making Jeremy lightly blush.

“Dinner can wait,” Geoff says, along with the others he shifts closer to Jeremy.

“But food Geoffrey,” Whines Gavin and Ray.

“If you’re hungry you can go make some dinner for yourselves,” Says Jack, earning a shake of heads from the two lads.

“Exactly, now shut up so we can make silently tease Jeremy and his _friend,_ ” Ryan says smirking.

“Fuck you guys, Matt and I are just friends,” Jeremy shouts, holding no fire to it as Jeremy starts to crack a smile.

Cracking a mischievous smirk, Michael presses call on Matt contact and the six sins laugh as the phone begins to ring.

“Shh! If you guys blow this for yourselves then that’s on your asses,” Hisses Jeremy, holding the phone to his ear, just as Matt picks up on the other line.

 _“Hello? Jeremy, are you there?”_ Says Matt’s familiar voice. 

“Sup Matt, yeah I’m here,” Greets Jeremy, batting away Ryan when the gent tries to whisper something in his ear.

_“Why are you calling me? Normally you just text. Not that I’m it’s bad to hear from you! Just that- God Jer, it’s been a while since I’ve heard your voice,”_

Swallowing a lump in his throat from the tired words from his _friend_ \- his _best_ -friend, Jeremy smiles forgetting that Matt can’t see him, “That’s a little gay Matt,” Jeremy jokes earning a laugh from the other side.

_“You got me their man, but no seriously what’s up? How’s the big lonely house treating you?”_

Jeremy looks over at the men, who all silently mouth ‘what is he saying’ and ‘are you gonna get some?’. Chuckling at the sins antics Jeremy puts the phone on speaker, “The house is treating me good,” Jeremy begins then looks back at the sins a small smile on all their faces still laced with some confusion, “Really good actually, but the house is one of the things I wanted to talk to you about,” Continues Jeremy.

_“Yeah? What do you want to know? I got the kid who gave you the job right here,”_

“Really, could you put him on?” Jeremy asks.

 _“Sure! One sec… Yo! The guy you hired is on the phone and has some questions,”_ Jeremy hears Matt shout.

“He sounds hot,” Gavin teasingly says, earning an audible slap to the back of the head from Michael.  

“Shush idiot,” Michael says, earning a quiet squawk from Gavin.

 _“Ello’, you Jeremy, the guy my family and I hired?”_ Asks a new voice, it higher in pitch then Matt’s voice.

“Uh yeah, I have some questions about the house?” Jeremy answers with a question.

_“Alright shoot,”_

Jeremy clears his throat before continuing, “I had a question as to why none of the other family decided to take care of the house?”

 _“Is the house freaking you out?”_ Asks Burnie’s grandkid, his tone sounding a bit nervous.

“No?” Jeremy says looking around puzzled towards the other men crowded around him, them all wearing the similar expression, “The house has been perfectly fine, nothing scary at all,” Jeremy adds.

_“Alright interesting,”_

“Why’s that?” Jeremy asks.

 _“Just that in my family that house is known to be cursed,”_ Replies the grandkid.

“Cursed?” Jeremy questions looking at the sins earning a shrug from them.

_“Yeah, the whole family’s been raised to fear the house. I’m surprised that, I don’t know...That you’re not dead?”_

“Okay…. Why not just sell the house?” Jeremy asks, earning a scoff from the other side.

 _“In my grandfathers will he said to never let the house outside of the family and quote on quote, ‘if my house is to be put up for sale, your asses will lose all your money and you’ll have to live in the house for the rest of your stupid stuck up lives’.”_ Admits the grandkid.

“That sure fucking sounds like Burnie,” Quietly laughs Geoff, a bit sadly.

Ignoring the sin, Jeremy answers back to the kid, “That doesn’t sound too bad.”

 _“Fuck dude, it’s worse than death. That fucking house is fucking crazy and neither I or my entire family will ever set foot into it,” _Scoffs the grandkid, _“Now, I need to get back to work, talk to my aunt if you need anything else.”_

“Wait one more question- Fuck! He hung up on me,” Jeremy huffs, quickly sending a text to Matt telling him he’ll call him another time, earning an ‘okay, stay safe man’.

Jeremy knowing that Matt overheard his and Burnie’s grandkid conversation, probably becoming more worried about Jeremy staying ‘alone’ in an apparently cursed house.

Sighing, Jeremy flips his phone shut and leans back on the sofa.

“Well, that seems like it went pretty right,” Speaks up Gavin, making Jeremy softly laugh.

“Glad to know losing the house isn’t a possibility,” Geoff says, patting Jeremy knee as he goes to stand up.

“How does spaghetti sound for dinner tonight?” Geoff asks.

“Fucking awesome,” Jeremy replies, “Do you want some help?” the younger lad offers.

“Nah, I’ll help out,” Jack says, “You stay here to drink some beer and write your letter,” Jacks continues, his words coming out in a slight order.

“Drinking and writing a professional letter, sounds like a great plan Jack,” Agreed Michael sarcastically.

“Hey, a couple of bevvies never hurt anyone,” Says Gavin.

“You say that like drinking isn’t a worldwide problem,” Ryan replies.

“Drinking is great Rye!” Shouts out Geoff from the kitchen.

“When it’s responsibly done!”

“Just let the poor fucker drink, If the letter gets fucked up you’ll help him out,” Michael tells Ryan, the gent crossing his arms mumbling that he was gonna let Jeremy drink just not get blasted then write an important letter.

“Ray love, would you be a dear and get us lads some bevves?” Gavin asks, his tone soft and pleading.

“Fine, but you owe me one Gav,” Ray huffs out, leaving for the kitchen.

“Thanks X-Ray!” Calls out Gavin.

Jeremy sits up and looks over his draft for the letter before ripping it off and crumbling it up, sighing Jeremy picks up a pen and starts writing.

“Here you go you lazy asses,” Ray says setting down three beers and a diet coke on the coffee table before grabbing his own can of soda and flopping back onto the couch.

“That must mean a lot coming from the sin of sloth calling me lazy,” Jeremy jokes, making the lads and Ryan laugh.

“Cheers,” Says Michael, raising his beer up to cheers with Gavin and Jeremy’s bottles and Ryan’s and Ray’s sodas.

Beers, letter writing with the background noise of pots and pans clanging from the kitchen and confusing questions and bickering. All things that are quickly becoming a comforting thing to Jeremy, which the shorter man doesn’t know to think of it a bad thing or a good thing.  

Jeremy smiles as he takes a sip of his beer and starts to write:

_Dear Ms. Burns,_

_I apologize if you receive my letter late, but due to me starting the job near the end of the month, I’ve was busy settling in and fixing up minor things around the house. To summarize my work this week, I fixed a hole in the roof and changed all the light fixtures in the house, my next project will be to redo the stairs and check the walls for mold. The cost of everything was slightly over a hundred dollars, could not find the money you said your father left so I used my own. The town is larger than I thought it was and does have everything I need. Glad to be working for you and your family, the house is so far great, and I thank you for this job you’ve so graciously given me. Hope this letter reaches you quickly,_

_~_ _Mr. Dooley._

 

* * *

 

 

The next morning the seven men find themselves asleep on the couch, empty plates of spaghetti variously laid out around the living room. Jeremy’s unsurprisingly the first to wake up, he carefully gets up from the couch not to wake up the other men, as he unnestles himself from between Ryan and Jack. Where all the six sins all individually curled up with another, all seemingly intimate and almost too much so for Jeremy to bear witness to such a private sight of the other men are unconsciously sharing.

Quietly stepping around legs and stuck out feet, Jeremy stands to rub the back of his neck trying to relieve some pain from passing out in a weird position.

The younger lad starts to head into the kitchen to make some coffee for himself and others, but walks by his letter and remembers he has to send that today. Grabbing his letter off the table, Jeremy enters the kitchen his bare feet making quiet slapping sounds on the floor.

While the coffee starts to brew, Jeremy takes the time to read over his letter making mental checks at things he misspelled to just didn’t make much sense.

“You write like your trying to kiss major ass,” Speaks up Ryan behind Jeremy, the gent silently having read the letter over Jeremy’s shoulder.

Jeremy drops the letter and quickly turns to face Ryan; the sin startling the shorter man.

Hearing Ryan laugh softly, Jeremy previous scowling begrudgingly becomes a small smile, “Sorry buddy forgot that your kinda jumpy,” Ryan apologizes.

“Nah it’s fine,” Jeremy says just as the coffee maker announces that its done, “Here read this- While I make some coffee,” Jeremy continues getting up and playfully shoving his letter into Ryan’s chest.

Ryan sits down at the kitchen table and carefully reads over Jeremy's letter, as the shorter man goes over to the cabinets and grabs six cups for the other men and one for him. Jeremy puts down all the cups and starts to fill up one for himself and one for Ryan suddenly pauses as Jeremy becomes overwhelmed at the feeling of domesticity of his action.

Putting down the pot of coffee, the younger lad ignores the way he shakily grabs Ryan’s and his cup. Going over to sit next to Ryan at the table, Jeremy slides over Ryan’s coffee receiving a pat on the arm as thanks.

Nodding in response, Jeremy takes a sip of his coffee not really paying attention to how it slightly burns his tongue. Ryan takes notice of Jeremy’s silence and playful attitude and decides to talk about the shorter man’s letter.

“Your letter is pretty well written, besides you sounding like you owe Burnie’s kid your life,” Ryan tells Jeremy, the gents tone softly joking.

Snapping out of his funk, Jeremy sets down his cup and coughs a bit clearing his throat of nothing, “Well I have to give some kinda thanks, I mean my life has definitely somewhat improved,” Jeremy admits. 

“Morning Lil’J, morning Rye,” Sleepily greets Gavin, making both Ryan and Jeremy cock their head to the side, the younger lad already knowing that the other lad should still asleep at least for another hour.

“Morning Gav, what are you doing up so early?” Jeremy asks, as Gavin goes and fills himself up a cup of coffee before sitting at the table with the two others.

“Ray kicked me off the couch,” Gavin mumbles over his coffee, “Also my back hurts,” whines the brit.

Rubbing his back Ryan says the same, “Guess we should know by now that couches do not make good beds.”

The three men fall into a comfortable conversation, while the rest of the men slowly wake up all complaining neck or back pain, or both for Geoff who was basically curled up around Gavin the entire night.

“When did Jeremy take over your job of coffee maker?” Ray asks Jack.

“When I realized that I get more sleep in the morning, also Jeremy makes pretty goddamn good coffee,” Jack answers, taking a sip.

Everyone else takes a sip and nod in agreement, making Jeremy perk up a little bit with the compliment.

“So, Lil’J what are your plans for today,” Geoff asks a tired yet knowing smirk on his face.

Narrowing his eyes as he smiles Jeremy chuckles, “Did you mean to make that rhyme?” Jeremy questions.

“Yep,” Replies Geoff popping the ‘p’ before taking a sip, making everyone chuckle.

“You’re a dork,” Boasts Michael.

“What really are you planning to do today Jer?” Jack asks, “I know that Geoff needs to go to the post office today if you want he can also drop off your letter,” the bearded gent continues.

Jeremy shakes his head, “I can go with, I need to get a better gist of what the town is,” Jeremy answers.

“It’s not that impressive of a town,” Ray says, “Kinda spooky, were lucky they stopped hating us after the first ten years,” he whistles.

Cocking his head in confusion, Jeremy looks over at Ray, “What the hell does that mean?”

“The town kind of knows about who we are, and they don’t really like that were demons all that well,” Ryan tells Jeremy.

“That’s an understatement,” Michael scoffs, “They tried to kill us once, trapped us in their store and threw holy water on us. Attempted to pull an entire exorcism on us,” He continues, anger lacing in his voice.

Jeremy looks at the sins eyes and mouth wide open, “How did you get out of that!” gasps the shorter man.

“Eh, don’t really remember, but apparently they gave up and told us to get out and never come back,” Jack answers.

“That lasted ‘bout a week until we really needed to get some food and alcohol,” Says Gavin, drinking the last of his coffee. 

“We made a promise to them that we’ll never cause harm to them or their town and that we’re just a couple demon dudes who need basic human shit,” Geoff added.

“So, now you guys are good with the town people?” Questions the younger lad, “They seemed pretty pissed and almost offended when we went to the store,” Jeremy says.

“They don’t take too kindly to strangers either, but whatever fuck ‘em,” Ray tells Jeremy, making the younger lad feel less worried about the townspeople.

 

 

They all finish their coffees and Jack puts Gavin and Michael on dish duty, ignoring the two’s complaints. Jeremy goes upstairs and takes a shower, following his own routine of staring at himself in the mirror for a bit before taking a steaming hot shower. He leaves the bathroom without another moment’s hesitation.

His mood falls but quickly raises as he catches Michael throwing a wet sponge at Gavin, making the brit loudly gag as the other sins watching burst out in roaring laughter and Michael falls to the floor in near tears due to his laughter.

“You bleeding donut!” Squawks Gavin, throwing the sponge back at Michael who’s too busy dying to really get bothered, “You’re all mean! You have no idea where that sponge has been!” Says the brit, his voice becoming louder, yet it not at all sounding angry.

“It’s been in the sink like all the sponges are,” Jack says, taking a deep breath from laughing so hard.

“Sorry Boi, but it was worth it,” Michael tells Gavin, getting up off the floor and rubbing Gavin’s back as an apology.

The two lads continue cleaning the dishes with minimal water fights, as the rest of the house members start doing other stuff to waste away the day. The days going slower than usual for Jeremy, as he realizes he can’t really do anything major to the house until Ms. Burns sends him some money, the younger lad not wanting to use the sins money.

After the day goes by with no further interesting events, they all find themselves eating an early dinner.

“Why does _just_ Geoff need to go to the post office?” Asks Jeremy.

“He needs to sign for a package, plus the post office is absolutely the worse,” Ryan answers.

“The dude who runs the place is like the oldest asshole you’ll ever meet,” Says Geoff, “If he has more than one of us in his shop at a time he’ll throw holy water on us,” He continues.

“But won’t he attack me, since I’m with you?” Jeremy says.

“No, you’re not a demon like us,” Quickly replies Jack.

“Also, he’s got this really fucking creepy demon senses, he’s the one who ratted us out to the town before anybody knew that we're some of the seven deadly sins,” Michael tells Jeremy.

“Gav and Ray always thought he was a demon hunter or some shit,” Jack says.

“I still bet he is one, he’s just waiting for the right time to attack,” Ray argues.

“Honestly, we’re all too chicken to go in there,” Gavin admits, “So, we make Geoff or Ryan do it the old man’s always been wary of them.”

“Crazy, so I’ll take it that it’ll be just like the store, with the staring and stuff?” Jeremy says.

“Yep, except that it’ll feel like your very soul is being watched,” Ray tells Jeremy.

Geoff turns to the clock on the stove and sighs, “Alright buddy, time to head out,” The tattooed sin says, putting his plate in the sink before leaving the kitchen.     

The rest of the sins and Jeremy do the same, the sins breaking away to sit down on the couches while Jeremy slips on his shoes and jacket. Then grabbing his letter that he emailer put into an envelope, with a stamp and address both on it.

“Do you fuckers need anything else while we’re out?” Geoff asks, putting the car keys in his pocket.

“And don’t say you need more knives, sweets or video games,” Says Geoff, making all the sins close their mouths before they could say anything.

“Alright awesome, hold down the fort for us,” Geoff tells them, and opens the door pushing Jeremy out in front of him.

Jeremy watches as Geoff closes the door behind him and press a button for the garage to open, “You wanna drive Jer?” The tattooed sin asks the shorter man.

“Nah, you can drive,”

“Cool, let’s get going,” Tiredly smiles Geoff at Jeremy, the younger lad smiling back.

 

* * *

 

 

The drive to town seems to go quicker, then the first time he and the other lads drove to town. And Jeremy doesn’t know if he’s already used to the road or if Geoff is driving incredibly fast, but both are entirely possible to the younger lad.

They drive in silence, that isn’t quite awkward and not yet comforting at the same time. Jeremy sits in the passenger seat staring out the window and occasionally looking over at Geoff, who seems unnerved by the semi-wired silence.

The shorter man watches as they drive past the market and hardware store, they quickly whipping into another parking lot. Making Jeremy compare Michael’s parking skills and Geoff and comes up with the conclusion that the older sin must’ve taught Michael.

Looking through the windshield, Jeremy sees a small shack-like building that seems like one small gust of wind would knock it down.

“This the post office?” Jeremy questions his tone a bit annoyed.

Hearing Geoff hum in response, Jeremy sees the gent exit the car and copies the sins action of getting out.

“A real beauty of American history,” Geoff addresses, “This shit shack has looked the same for over sixty years,” He continues scoffing.

“Same guy, who runs it to right? That’s what you said earlier,” Jeremy points out, “Just how old is this fuck?” Questions Jeremy making the older man laugh.

“Old, not as old as me and the others… But still quite old,” Geoff says, motioning for the shorter man to follow him, “Stay behind me if just in case he does try to attack,” Geoff tells Jeremy, the other nodding and walk behind the gent into the post office.

Entering the shack Geoff instantly gets hit by something wet, Jeremy hears the gent wince as holy water comes into contact with Geoff skin.

“Come on dude! You know I’m only here for my package, no fucking need for the holy water shower!” Shouts Geoff pissed off and in slight pain.

“I said only _one_ demon! It’s you and an extra right now,” Angrily shouts back an old man, his face covered in thousands of wrinkles making the old man look _ancient_.

“Jesus fuck, It’s just me and my _human_ friend! Now can I get my fucking package now,” Snaps Geoff, making Jeremy flinch back from the sins furiousness.

The ancient man narrows his eyes at the two and hobbles into the back and picks up a cardboard box and lifts it up onto the counter, then motions for Jeremy and Geoff to come forward.

Jeremy hesitantly goes up to the ancient man while Geoff pulls up his shirt to wipe away some leftover holy water on his face. The old man nods at Jeremy and starts to ring up the package on an equally ancient cash register.

“Its twelve-fifty you devil fiend,” Hisses out the ancient man, glaring at both Jeremy and Geoff, feeling the old man’s glare is burning his skin.

Geoff goes up to the register and throws a twenty at the old man, “The rest is for him- you old fuck,” Sneers Geoff quickly grabbing the package off the table, the gent slightly afraid that the man will throw more holy water at him.

Jeremy slowly takes out his letter from his pocket and sets it on the counter, making the ancient man look at Jeremy letter then back up to Jeremy with a harsh glare, “What’s this? Some devil trick,” Demands the ancient man.

“N-No, I just need to send this letter, the address and everything are already on it,” Jeremy stutters out, wary of the ancient man’s accusing glare.

The ancient man looks down at the letter once again and scoffs while nodding, “It’ll take a day or two to send if it’s important it’s gonna be late,” Says the ancient man, not sounding like a warning but more of a threat.

“I uh, that’s okay,” Jeremy tells the ancient man, looking over at Geoff who clearly wants to leave.

“Come on let’s leave this shit shack,” Geoff says to Jeremy, but as Jeremy turns to leave the ancient old man’s hand grabs Jeremy’s arm in a surprisingly strong vice-like grip, stopping the younger lad from leaving.

“You are _one_ with the devils, yet I cannot understand why you are _still_ so human,” Spats the ancient man, loud enough for both Jeremy and Geoff to hear.

The shorter lad yanks away from the ancient man’s grasp on him, and angrily quirks a brow at the old man as Geoff pulls Jeremy away from the clearly troubled ancient man.

“What does that mean you crazy old man?” Barks Geoff, as the ancient man only smiles at the two with a crooked grin and snatched Jeremy’s letter and hobbles away into the back room with a cackle that echoes in Jeremy’s mind.

“Come on Jeremy let’s leave,” Geoff says ushering Jeremy out of the small shack.

 

 

As the two men exit the post office, three shadowy figures grab Geoff and a shock frozen Jeremy, making Geoff drop his package in the attempt to attack the ones attacking them.

Jeremy snaps out of his thoughts as a punch is thrown into his stomach, making him groan out in pain and throw a punch back at his attacker, before someone else coming up behind him and wrapping Jeremy into a choke hold.

“Looks like the devils got a pet, how sweet,” Cooed a younger sounding man as he twists Geoff’s arms behind his back.

“Alright, you fuckers just take the package and let us be,” Grunts out Geoff, kicking his package out further away from him.

“Aw you devil’s never want to fight anymore,” Falsely sniffs the man holding Jeremy.

“What can you say, your towns idiotic traditions are starting to get as old as we are,” Geoff snarks back, earning punch to the face.

A third shadowy figure wipes at his nose and picks up Geoff package, “Whatever demon, hope whatever in here is better than last time.”

The two men released their hold on Jeremy and Geoff, Geoff immediately going to the younger lads’ aid as he collapses onto the ground. The gent looks up at the three shadowy figures and glares, “Theirs a brand-new Xbox in that box,” Geoff motions towards the box, as he smiles wickedly at the three, “Hope it blows your dumb teenage asses up and teaches your fucking dumb ass town a lesson,” Curses Geoff.

“Now Leave,” Growls Geoff making the three figures jerking back in fear and the one holding the box drops it, “Leave!” Shouts the gent and the three quickly run away almost tripping over themselves as they make their leave.

“Fucking dumbass teenage idiots,” Mumbles Geoff, turning back to Jeremy, “You alright?” The tattooed sin asks.

“You're fucking terrifying for not being the sin of wrath,” Jokes Jeremy making Geoff laugh.

Geoff helps Jeremy get back to the car, leaving the younger lad for a second before retrieving his package. The gent gets into the car and starts it, then sighs as he rubs at his face in exhaustion.

“Do teenagers always try to mug you, when you pick up packages?” Jeremy questions, chuckling along with Geoff as the older man does so.

“Totally, it’s like _the_ thing to do as a teenager around here,” Geoff admits.

“They don’t seem that afraid until you start yelling and threating them,” Jeremy says.

“To be truthful Jeremy, we may be demons but on the scale of ‘cool demons’ to ‘shit and pathetic demons’ the demons assigned to sins are _way_ below the ‘shit and pathetic demons’,” Sighs Geoff, a bit sadly.

Geoff pulls out of the small post office parking lot and starts to drive as an awkwardness begins to fester between Jeremy and Geoff.

“I think you guys are some pretty cool demons,” Admits Jeremy, turning to face Geoff.

“Thanks, Lil’J,” Geoff replies smiling reassuringly at the shorter man.

“We're gonna talk about what that freaky old man said to me with the others right?” Asks Jeremy.

“You bet. Probably right when we get home, unless you want to keep it a secret for a little bit,” Geoff offers.

Jeremy shakes his head, “No, I want to talk about it- It clearly has something to do with the rest of you,” Jeremy tells Geoff.

“Hopefully not, but whatever happens-happens for some kind of reason,” Geoff answers looking over at Jeremy.       

Jeremy nods and looks out the windshield the two men falling into a comfortable silence that lasts all the way back to the house.

 

* * *

 

 

“What the shit?!” Exclaims Michael as he lets in the both equally disheveled Jeremy and Geoff.

“Don’t tell me Geoff got mugged again,” Calls out Jack from the kitchen, as he peeks around the kitchen corner and sees Geoff’s face where he got punched already becoming purple, “Goddammit Geoff!” Chides Jack, making the room boom full of laughter.

Jeremy joins in the laughter, glad that this is the place that no matter what shit goes down can make him feel safe and at _home_.

They discuss later in the night after their ‘battle wounds’- Gavin likes calls them, gets cleaned up. The seven men sit around the tv playing a movie quietly in the background as they all discuss what the old man told Jeremy, the six men reassuring the younger lad that they’ll look into it and hopefully nothing will pop up that’s too serious and Geoff retorts what he told Jeremy in the car.

 _‘Whatever happens-happens for some kind of reason’­_ \- And that’s what Jeremy keeps repeating to himself over and over as he and the others start to pass out on the couch like the night previously.

Jeremy thinks that whatever happened to him already, has already happened and what is to happen next is to happen for something, either bad or good.

And Jeremy thinks he’s starting to realize that.  


	4. This life is getting somewhere

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's the conclusion to a wild ride.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> They may have started as someone just paying me to write something, but it became so much more and became the longest thing I've ever written. Enjoy reading! 
> 
>  
> 
> ((This story is purely fictional and are not at all accurate to these real-life people and their real lives. This story is not a real depiction of any of the people written in it in real life.))

Days continue to pass by faster than time should allow too. Quickly days turn into weeks, from weeks they turn into months and before anyone knows it, it’s been three and a half months since Jeremy first arrived at sin’s home.

The younger lads’ life flips completely upside down, then sideways- his old life nearly non-existent. Jeremy’s life-changing to be more relaxing, pleasant, and most importantly and surprisingly _happier._

Jeremy and the six sins grow closer as weeks and months pass by, the patterns and rhythms that the sins have nearly perfected after sixty years easily work into or around Jeremy’s own lively patterns. Making the house and its occupants seemingly feel that in some ways Jeremy’s always lived with the sins and nothing has changed.

In result, the sins treat it as so.

They all continue their late-night movie nights and intense video game sessions, Jeremy becoming better at recognizing movies _including_ their references, and becoming _even_ better at kicking the other’s asses in video games.

Jeremy continues baking ludicrous and _luxurious_ desserts. The younger lad taking pride in the ways that every time he creates something, the six sins are excitedly waiting to try his newest creation them never running out of praise for Jeremy.

 He starts to teach Geoff and Ryan, and occasionally Ray and Gavin about the basics of baking some of the easier things, like cookies and cakes or cupcakes.

Unsurprisingly Geoff was the first to pick up on baking, trying to incorporate some of Jeremy techniques into their dinners. Ray and Gavin don’t learn as much as the gent as they try to make a cake- that ended up in a flour and batter war with Michael.

And Ryan sticks with baking side by side with Jeremy, the gent enjoying how the younger lad lights up when talking about baking, how fluid and relaxed Jeremy looked and _feels_ when he was in the kitchen.      

The two settles for baking with one another when it’s late at night and the others are asleep, Ryan and Jeremy stay up late and bond over the relatable long restless nights full of insomnia and the occasional nightmares from Jeremy.

They realize that after a near-dawn baking session, the two insomniacs pass out immediately when their head hits the pillow, it being some of the better sleep the two ever receive.

The other sins not even being upset with Ryan’s absence in bed, mostly because when they wake up theirs a deliciously baked treat all laid out for them to eat. It making up for the Ryan shaped gap in their bed.

Jeremy’s sleeping habits have never been so easy to maintain and control.  

As the month's progress and Jeremy receive the money from Ms. Burns. The younger lad nearly having the house back to its original glory after the first two months.

Jeremy continues working early in the morning, starting the day off with a warm cup of coffee and a pleasant conversation with Jack- who’s normally awake right after Jeremy.  

Jeremy ignores the sins warnings of working out in the cold, them arguing that it’s very easy for a ‘human’ to get a sick. But after a full week of working out in freezing rain and wind, Jeremy comes down with one of the worst sicknesses he’s ever gotten in his twenty-five years of living.

The six sins tell Jeremy that they all told him so, yet still brought him food and water to keep the younger lad hydrated and fed. Them all babying him until he shoos them away.

Michael keeps his word of not helping Jeremy out when the shorter man is sick, but his resolution breaks as soon as he _literally_ catches Jeremy when the younger lad trips on the stairs that Jeremy still hasn’t gotten around to fix.

Seeing that it was finally Michaels turn to baby him, Jeremy reluctantly lets the older lad aggressively take care of Jeremy, harshly chiding him when the younger lad tries to get up and move around or tries to do something for himself.

The older lad sits with Jeremy on the couch, the two watching movies that _Jeremy_ wants to watch, the others soon joining after they all finished their own daily duties.

Jeremy’s sickness passes faster than any previous sickness he’s ever had.

One night they all drink more than they all usually do, even Ryan and Ray having a sip or two of beer. All because of them learning from a text from Matt to Jeremy, the text wishing the younger lad a happy birthday and warning to call soon.

The six sins and Jeremy treat it as any other night, with the wish of Jeremy wanting a low-key birthday. But with the exception of drinking _more_ than the average night, and less video gaming and more of the drunken speech from Jeremy. The younger lad saying more than he would if he was sober.

They all randomly talk about their favorite colors, sparking an argument when Jeremy insists his favorite colors of purple and orange work _really well_ with one another. The other sins immediately telling him he’s a moron for, _ever_ thinking that the two colors would ever look good with each other.

Jeremy’s birthday night goes on without further major arguments, it somehow ending up with calling Matt. Jeremy quickly lies about the sins yelling drunkenly into his phone, telling Matt that he’s with friends he’s met since living at wherever part in Texas he’s in.

Matt verbally wishes him a happy birthday, ending the call saying that he’s glad Jeremy’s making friends and doing well. Jeremy ends the call with a big grin aimed towards the sins, a grin that the sins all return happily.

Jeremy has the best birthday he’s had in over five years. 

Town visits happen time to time, Jeremy going a couple of times with either the lads or the gents or sometimes just with Ryan or Geoff to go pick up a package or drop off his monthly letter to Ms. Burns. The ancient man continuing to holler at Jeremy every time he enters the post office.

They _all_ go into town one time, Gavin calling it a ‘family outing’ before getting harshly jabbed in the ribs by Michael, arguing that the brit made it weird.

Jeremy takes his shit car with the lads riding along. The Gents taking their car, making the younger sins and Jeremy follow them as they drive _through_ the town and all the way through the forests. Having what Jeremy thought was to be a short drive turn into an hour and a half long drive.

The seven men to arrive at an oddly placed electronics store- the gents and lads all silently going into the store with Jeremy following like a confused puppy after them.

Jeremy watches as they all spread out around a surprisingly large store, leaving Jeremy to look around awkwardly around at the front of the store.

After what seems to be only seconds that go by, Jeremy barely registers as Gavin gently drags Jeremy out of the store with the others in tow, some of them holding plastic bags.

They all reach the cars and Gavin makes Jeremy sit down on the trunk of his car as Jack silently gives Jeremy a brand new smartphone.

Jeremy looks it over and goes to give it back to the gent, only for Geoff to appear and say, ‘it’s a late birthday present kid, your drug dealer phone was making us depressed.’

Then with that they all drive home and make dinner, then staying up all night setting up Jeremy’s phone, them all putting Jeremy’s _one_ contact onto his new phone with the _six_ new ones.

Ray and Ryan teach Jeremy some basics and _less_ basic things about his new phone.

The first text Jeremy sends is to Matt, saying that he got a new phone. Couple minutes later he received a thumbs up emoji from Matt opening a whole new world to the younger lad.

Jeremy realizing that he doesn’t stop to question why nice things happen to him.

The months past, each day better than the last. The younger lad understanding what it’s like to have a life that you want to live and be a part of every day.

Jeremy’s flinching away, and panic died down after the first month and a half, his anxieties and panic hitting their peak every once in a while, but the sins knowing how to deal with it by then and let Jeremy do what _he_ needs to do to calm down.

Day’s go by smoother then Jeremy and the sins could’ve ever expected, the sins and Jeremy’s lives fitting together as one.

The younger lad always having at least one other man next to him, whether it’s helping the shorter man around the house, or it’s a simple conversation or a bet Gavin gives him that somehow brings all the men into one room.

Time flies by, them all learning more about one another as time goes on. Time seeming to be on standby to Jeremy, all the days mashing into one almost dream-like state that Jeremy’s afraid to wake up from.

Jeremy’s afraid of losing what he has, his new _job_ , his new _life_ , his new _friends_.         

 _Friends_ that Jeremy quickly and _nearly_ madly fell in love with.

Hitting him like a slap in the face one morning- he wakes up in the middle of a cuddle pile on the couch, the others all wrapped intimately around one another and yet also _with_ Jeremy. The shorter man snuggly fitted right in the middle like he was always _meant_ to be there.  

Somehow the younger lad had fallen for every single one of the sins.

Jack who was one of the first to embrace Jeremy without fear, who made him feel warm and safe. The one who talks to him with the most utmost respect teaching him that he _is_ worth something, who mastered the perfect ratio of tough love and kindness.

Jack who Jeremy’s mind and soul adores.

Michael who taught Jeremy true _rage_ in video gaming, who helped him with fixing up the house without giving him _too_ much shit. The one who both hides and loudly announced his admiration for the younger lad, who at first wanted and nearly beat the crap out of him- now becoming a head-rest for him with late night gaming sessions and the one to tell him to ‘go the fuck asleep’.

Michael who stole Jeremy’s heart right from under his nose.   

Geoff who no matter what mood he’s in always smiles at Jeremy with a droopy smile, who takes charge in moments of chaoticness and confusion. The one who has so much _trust_ in the shorter man and believes that he can do almost anything, who tells the stories that go along with each and every one of his tattoos, some of them being both good and bad. Who talks about writing a book- even though it’s hard to get something published when you don’t exist in any database.

Geoff who makes Jeremy’s feel like he’s living in a dream.

Ray who _never_ fails to make Jeremy laugh no matter what situation, who helps him relax in times of momentary panic. The one who stays up later than everyone else just to play a bit more with him, who inspires the younger lad to bake things he’s never thought of creating.

Ray who makes Jeremy face ache from smiling so much.

Gavin who makes Jeremy question the most idiotic things yet still make him think about _everything_ , who takes so much shit from the others and gives as much shit back. The one who understands the shorter man’s personal boundary’s and follows through with them until he gives an okay, who is one of the worse video game players he met- yet still attempts to give advice to him.

Gavin who Jeremy’s feels butterfly’s in his stomach whenever they're together.   

Ryan who lets Jeremy just be _Jeremy_ , who shares the same kind of playful madness that he has. The one who always seems to be right next to Jeremy when he needs something, who shows him wonderful things and talks about the other sins like they’re the most remarkable things in the world. 

Ryan who makes Jeremy once again feel the forgotten feeling of passion and warmth in his soul.

All the emotions hit him harder than anything he’s ever felt, and it _frightens_ him to no extent.

But Jeremy feels _whole_ , he feels _happy._ Like for the first time in his life, it’s finally getting to the point where it seems it’s _going_ to end up alright.

Then again, he can’t stop worrying about his sense of comfort crashing down on him like it always does. Afraid that if this time _does_ collapse on him… He knows he’s _not_ going to get up like the last time.

 

Then just as predicted, it starts to collapse.

* * *

 

 

“Burnie’s kid becomes more and more like a bitch with each letter,” Scoffs Geoff crumbling up the letter and throwing it.

“Hey, asshole I still need that!” Protests Jeremy flattening out the letter from Ms. Burns, throwing a weak glare at the older man.

Jeremy goes to read the letter again- but before he can Michael takes it from his hands and begins to read it aloud;

 _“’Wish your letters would arrive sooner, my time is much more valuable than yours, send it earlier if you have too. I am getting sick of your apologies’,” _Michael mocks in an annoyingly high-pitched voice. “Yeah, yeah, we all know you’re a rich bitch who has nothing to do besides sitting on your ass all day,” Michael mocks shoving the letter back at Jeremy before flopping on the couch beside Gavin and Ray.

Jeremy puts down the letter back on the table and goes to open the envelope that came along with the letter. The younger lad sighs in relief and pulls out a neatly bundled stack of money.

“Well at least she’s still paying me, just means I have to write and send her letter quicker than usual,” Jeremy says, smugly tucking the money back into its envelope.  

“I think that ass at the post-office purposefully sends your letters late,” Gavin tells Jeremy with Ray and Michael nodding along.

“That fucker always has dicked around like that, sometimes I wanna go down there and light that shit shack up,” Michael admits earning warning glare from Jack and Ryan, the two lingering around the living room listening into the conversation.

“I’m only _joking_! I know we have a truce or some shit like that,” Michael argues as Ryan and Jack both quirk a brow at him.

Gavin laughs, “Micool boy, we all know you’d do it anyways.”

“Plus, you’ve tried before, and you almost got burnt to the crisp from holy water being thrown on you,” Ray adds earning a betrayed look from Michael.

“Is that one of the reasons why Michael’s too chicken to go with me to the post-office?” Jeremy speaks up, trying to hide his amused smile.

“Perhaps,” Answers Ryan after a moments silence.

Michael huffs, “Fucking that shit burns, and maybe I want that old man to burn too!”

“Calm down Mikey, we all know of your hatred of the old man. And honestly, I can’t blame you, but not until the old man croaks of _natural causes_ , _then_ can you torch the man,” Geoff tells Michael, the older sins tone half teasing half serious. 

“Michael does not have enough patience to wait for that man to die,” Jack chuckles sitting himself down.

“I take offense to that, I’ve waited sixty-some years and I think the old man has lived long enough!” Michael retorts, “And when did it become ‘gang-up’ on Michael day? It should be Gavin! He almost fucking crashed the car this morning!” Michael continues, the others starting to laugh.

“To be completely fair, it is Gavin,” Admits Ryan chuckling as he crosses his arms and leans against the wall.

Gavin nods in agreement with the others, then quickly frowns and turns to face Ryan with a look of annoyance, “What does that bloody jab mean?”

“Well Gavvers, it means that your you and almost everything you do makes you become the world worst walking catastrophe. But we only say it completely out of love and respect for your dumb ass,” Geoff tells Gavin, earning a squawk from the lad.

“Giant bleeding plebs, are what you lot are!” Announces Gavin, launching the room into various stages of laughing their asses off.

Continuing to discuss- after the laughter dies down -about Jeremy’s letter and money. Their conversation got cut off mid-sentence- Jeremy’s phone starts to ring loudly from his back pocket.

“Is that your phone going off Jer?” Asks Jack, the sins all looking puzzled as this never happening before.

Jeremy furrows his brows as he pulls out his phone seeing it being an unknown number, yet the digits all seem familiar in some way, “Yeah- I don’t know who it is though,” Answers Jeremy, looking up at the sins as the phone keeps ringing.

“Answer it, then tell them to kindly fuck off,” Michael offers.

Jeremy shakes his head at Michael’s suggestion as he presses accept and holds his phone up to his ear, “Hello? Jeremy Dooley here,” He politely answers.  

 _“Hey babe~”_ Sweetly greets Kates familiar, but an unwelcome voice. Instantly making the younger lad clam up and grab onto his phone in a vice-tight grip.

 _“Jer? You still there? You picked up, so you much still be there,”_ She says her tone sounding more annoyed then sweet.

It takes everything in Jeremy’s body not to hang up right then and there.

“I-I uh yeah, I’m here, sorry,” Stumbles out Jeremy, not knowing why or what he’s apologizing for.

The sins look at one another in concern at the sudden shift in Jeremy’s behavior, the younger lad going from being expressive, open and happy, to a closed-off, panicked, and fearful. They all quickly crowed around Jeremy, mouthing questions at Jeremy like ‘who it is’ and ‘are you okay?’

Jeremy swallows a lump in his throat and ignores the other men’s attempts for him to pay attention to them, his mind and body becoming locked on only to his phone and what Kate is trying to say over the phone.

 _“It’s fine- Glad to know you still remember that a lady doesn’t like to be kept waiting,”_ Kate sweetly reassures, but her tone still suggesting that she was getting annoyed with Jeremy.

The younger lad unconsciously curls into himself at Kate’s tone, “H-How did you get my number? N-Not saying it bad to hear from you or anything!” Jeremy goes to quickly correct himself, vividly imagining the look of blatant disappointment on her face, making him cringe at the memory of seeing it one too many times.

 _“Jeremy, Matt told me you skipped town and changed your number. I know you broke it off a bit harshly, but there’s no need to leave town because of it,” _Huffs Kate, Jeremy hearing her nails impatiently clicking on the back of her phone. 

Suddenly Jeremy feels the overwhelming _urge_ just to punch something.

Michael sees the edges of his vision slightly fade black as the lad feels a very large rush of _pure rage_ radiates off Jeremy- Michael grabs onto Jack's shoulder as his legs collapse underneath him, the wave of Jeremy’s anger makes ‘impact’ with the sins body.

The other sins are quick to help Michael, turning their backs to Jeremy as the younger lad suddenly stands and exits the living room, past the kitchen and outside. The six sins realizing that Jeremy’s left when the backdoor loudly slams shut.

_“Jeremy, I wanted to see if you could send me back- Wait what was that sound? Did you break something, I swear-,”_

“Listen, Kate, I don’t give a fuck what you want from me. Matt should have never given you my number without my consent,” Jeremy interrupts him barely registering that he’s outside stomping around. 

 _“Wow, A little change of scenery and now you're more of a bitch than before. What the fuck has gotten into you?”_ Kate harshly cackles into the phone.

Jeremy digs his nails into his arm, anger clouding over his actions and thoughts, “You cheated on me _Kate_ ,” Jeremy spats, “You were the one who broke up with me! I-I didn’t do shit, I fucking did everything you wanted of me and you never _once_ were appreciative of anything I did!” Jeremy shouts, furiously whipping away as the burning in his eyes.

“I _loved_ you, Kate,” Jeremy hisses. 

The other side of the call stays silent except for the harsh breathing from Kate, _“I never loved you, you were always such a fucking burden on my life! Sure, you’d do everything I asked of you, but It was all just a test to see how whipped you were,”_ Kate laughs, _“And my god, by the end of our relationship you were begging for more from me like a pathetic puppy that you are,” _She continues harshly, Jeremy’s anger have been washed away at the very beginning of her confession.

 _“I know that if you haven’t ditched town, you’d come crawling back pleading at my feet for forgiveness. Because I know who you are Jeremy, and no change of scenery can change that you’re still a sniveling bitch who can’t keep his life in check. Can you understand that? You’re still nothing,”_ Kate finishes, tone venomous and deadly, like she was standing right in front of Jeremy screaming down at him.

Jeremy lets his tears fall freely to the ground, covering his mouth and struggling to stifle his sobs, not wanting for Kate feel victorious for making him cry.

Jeremy pulls away from his phone and coughs wetly before shakily putting the phone back to his ear, “N-Never text o-or call me again,” Jeremy weakly tells Kate, blanking out as she yells at him more and he numbly presses end. Letting his arm fall to his side and his phone to slip out of his hand and onto the grass.

The younger lad’s body moves without his control as he harshly plops down on the ground beside his phone, his hands numbly falling to his sides. In a sudden rush, everything comes back to him he buries his head into his hands and curls up into a right ball, his body wracking with sobs as every-single word that Kate said replays in his mind, them hitting him like a bullet to the heart.  

Unknowingly to the younger lad, the six sins followed Jeremy right after he fled from the house and witnessed the entire phone call and destruction of everything Jeremy had worked so hard to become after three months.

They all watch from a distance, all in slight shock over what they just saw. As they all stare at the sobbing man with concerned and panicked gazes, afraid of what they should do next.

Surprisingly Ryan and Ray are first to act, Ryan knowing that the younger lad had shared more to him than any other sin in the house, and Ray because the _exhaustion_ he felt from Jeremy from the second day they met is back, and he  hates it more than anything.

Jeremy jumps as a comforting warmth touches his shoulder, quickly uncurling himself he looks up and is meet with piercing blue eyes that hold such worry in them. He feels another presence at his left and looks over to see Ray with an attempted reassuring smile directed towards him, his mouth falls open to apologize for disrupting them.  

But another sob comes out instead and rather than to curl back into himself, he tightly wraps his arms around Ray in a surprising hug sobbing into the other lad’s shoulder.

Ray freezes at Jeremy’s sudden contact, then slowly wraps his arms around the younger man returning the hug. Ray hears Ryan softly laugh, knowing that Ray’s not the hug kind of guy like Jack or Gavin.

Jeremy hears the others walk up and silently kneel next to him. Minutes pass and the younger lad’s sobs began to die down, Jeremy reluctantly lets himself pull away from Ray and laughs wetly as he imagines how wrecked he must look.

The seven men all sit around in a semi-circle on the ground, all comfortably waiting in silence for someone to speak up first. The silence ending with Jeremy.

“What did you guys hear?”

“Nothing,” Geoff says, Jeremy looking at the gent quizzically, “Seriously, I mean we heard _you,_ but not what _Kate_ said,” The sin continues saying Kate’s name like it sickens him.

“Good,”

“That was the bitch who fucked with you before right?” Michael asks, making Jeremy hum out his laughter at the other lad’s hostility.

“Yeah, Matt gave her my new number. She probably forced him too, he never liked her,” Jeremy replies his voice dull.

A quiet stillness begins again, the younger lad too exhausted to give a shit as he feels the other men all staring at him, then back at each other. All seemingly having a conversation of their own, with just their eyes.

Jeremy falls back into his mind, as the others don’t say or do anything to distract him from his own thoughts, he snaps out of this when the all the sins except for Gavin stand up.

Gavin gently rests a hand on Jeremy's shoulder, “Come on up Lil’ J, we should head inside and patch you up,” Gavin tells Jeremy, making the younger lad look confusingly at the other. The sin just motions with his eyes at Jeremy’s arm, the younger lad’s eyes widening as he realizes that his arm is bleeding from nail shaped cuts in his skin.

“Oh,”

Gavin lets go of Jeremy’s shoulder and stands up. With the help of Jack, they carefully help up Jeremy off the ground and lead him back into the house.

Geoff lets the others go ahead of him, bending down he picks up Jeremy’s discarded phone and turns it on seeing that there are way too many missing calls and just as many voicemails. Geoff angrily grunts and unlocks the phone blocking Kates number and deletes all the voicemails, not wanting for the younger lad to listen to whatever shit they say.

Geoff pockets the younger lads phone and hopes the other man can get past whatever the fuck just happened, tiredly sighing the sin follows the others back into the house.  

 ~

All seven men somehow manage to fit into the small upstairs bathroom. Ray and Ryan sitting on the edge of the bathtub, Gavin and Michael sitting on the floor beside them. Geoff leaning against the door frame to the bathroom, frowning when Jeremy winces when Jack cleans and bandages Jeremy’s wounds, the shorter man sitting patiently on the sink counter.

Jack finishes putting on the last band-aid and rubs his hands together, “Wasn’t too bad, deep enough to bleed but luckily not to scar,” The bearded man says softly smiles at Jeremy, the younger lad giving a weak smile in return.

“That’s good to hear,” Jeremy replies his tone still softer than usual, the other lads frowning at Jeremy’s demeanor.

“What did _she_ want?” Geoff asks trying to keep his tone non-threatening.

But Jeremy still shies away from Geoff's voice, “D-Don’t know she probably wanted something that she left at my apartment,” Jeremy answers.

“Do you have it with you or did you leave it back at your apartment? An apartment that I hope your still not paying for,” Ryan questions, crossing his arms over his chest.

“Also, weren’t you gonna get Matt or something to send you the rest of your shit?” Michael asks, thinking back to the first day when Jeremy first arrived.    

Jeremy eyes widen at the memory of him saying so, surprised that Michael still even remembers that lie. Jeremy looks away and stares off to the side not wanting to meet any of other men’s eyes.

“I was evicted from my apartment a couple of days before I left, everything I brought with me here is everything I’ve ever owned,” Jeremy admits, breathing out his words as what feels like a burden being lifted from his shoulders.

“You lied? Why?” Gavin asks after Jeremy’s words fully wrap around the six sins brains.

The younger lad sighs and curls his fingers together in his lap before looking up at Gavin, “Didn’t really wanted to make you guys pity me right off the bat, or _ever_ really,” Jeremy weakly laughs, letting his head hang, “Also, didn’t want the first impression of me was a loser whose life is in shambles,” He continues to laugh self-deprecatingly.   

“So…You lied to us because you were ashamed of yourself?” Ray questions, earning a nod from Jeremy.

“Well that’s bloody idiotic of you,” Gavin blurts out, the younger lad snapping his head up to look up at the brit.

“What?” Jeremy mutters, him looking at the other lad confusion playing across his face.

Michael lets out a near growl. Geoff sighs and pitches his nose between his fingers, “We don’t and _won’t_ ever care about what you _do_ and _don’t_ own. After living this fucking long we’ve realized that people own shit and some don’t,” Geoff tells Jeremy.

“And that means you don’t care that I got evicted? And having barely anything to my name?” Jeremy says his tone a bit lighter, glad to know that others don’t really give a fuck about his past money issues.

“Yeah-Well with the part not really caring about how heavy your pockets are-,” Jack replies, “But we _do_ care about you getting evicted in the first place. Did you stay with Matt or something? Please don’t say you stayed with _Kate_ ,” Jack continues, his worried tone making Jeremy smile softly at the bearded man.

“No, but she did cheat and break up with me on the same day,” Jeremy admits, huffing angrily at the memory.

“Jesus fuck what a bitch,” Michael curses, the other sins nod and Jeremy hums in agreement before they all start softly laughing.

Soft laughter dies down between the seven men, them lounging around the bathroom. Ray starts to fidget uncomfortably on the edge of the tub.

“If we want to keep talking shit about Jeremy’s ex, we should move to a more comfortable place. Not saying the bathroom isn’t all that cozy, but I can’t really feel my ass and the tub is freezing cold,” Ray addresses, Jeremy, snickering at the other lad’s honesty.    

“Yeah, it’s not too roomy in here,” Agrees Ryan, going to stand up.

“How did we all fucking fit in here in the first place?” Michael questions standing up straight.

“No clue, but it seems we’ve finished up what we needed that bathroom for,” Jack says helping Jeremy off the sink, while the others get up and stretch themselves.

“All in favor for lounging around in the living room and shit talking Jeremy’s ex for the rest of the day?” Questions Geoff, all the sins saying ‘aye’ in response. Jeremy just laughing and nodding instead. 

They exit the bathroom and head down the stairs, leaving Jeremy to follow behind them thinking that, whatever just happened went down well. But the shorter man knows that the other men were holding back more questions about what happened outside.

Jeremy already makes his mind to tell the other men the truth.

~  

“Why is whenever we need to talk we’re always hanging in the living room?” Points out Ray tossing himself down onto the couch then shoving himself into the corner.

“It’s not like we have any other places to lounge around,” Gavin says tucking himself next to Ray.

The others shrug in response, “I think it’s alright, the couches are pretty comfy,” Jeremy admits.

Settling into various couches the sins and Jeremy sit in comfortable quietness, all men thinking the same things yet not knowing how to voice it aloud.

“Screw it,” Speaks up Ryan, “What exactly happened outside?” The gent continues, the younger lads eyes widening at such forwardness coming from Ryan.

“Clearly some shit went down, and if you don’t want to talk about that’s totally fine,” Geoff says picking up on Jeremy’s hesitation.

Jeremy coughs, swallowing a lump in his throat, “No I do- I really do, but it’s hard y’know?” Nervously laughs Jeremy, “I didn’t realize how much _she_ fucked me up until I started living with you guys,” He continues, frowning angrily when the others face exhibit pity towards him.

The sins pick up on Jeremy emotions and quickly change their expression of pity to one of curiosity, “You and your ex-didn’t live together right?” Jack asks.

“Yep, but uh… She stayed at my place more than hers,”

“Ah- how long did you guys date?” Asks Geoff, the question making Jeremy think back on it.

“Uh, I started dating her about a year after high school. So, about four years?” Jeremy's answerers, the six sins all looking at the younger lad in shock.  

“Wow, why did you never pop the big question. Besides her being a gammy bitch,” Questions Gavin, trying to lighten up the clouding atmosphere in the room.

“She just said she wasn’t ready for the married life, and I always kinda knew she wasn’t really _the_ one,” Jeremy says softly, “Glad I didn’t though, saved me _half_ the heartbreak,” he chuckles.

“How’d you even get with someone like _her_ in the first place?” Ray wonders aloud.

Jeremy looks down at fiddles around with his fingers, grimacing at the memory as it plays through his head.

It was a year after high school, first day at a new job in a clothing store in the local mall. Kate was a customer arguing with Jeremy’s co-worker, and Jeremy was sent over to spilt it up the argument between the two women. The shorter man was accidentally hit in the face by Kates flailing arm, she instantly backed down from her argument and in feeling guilty she asked to buy him a coffee as an apology.

He agreed.

Somehow, they hit it off and started dating a month later- by that point, Jeremy was _too_ far gone in Kate’s grasp to realize how much he fucked up.

“Met her during my first job, she argued with my co-worker. I was the one to break it apart, got hit by Kate on accident, she offered me a drink in apology, said yes. Then I stupidly started to date her,” Jeremy summarizes, looking back up at the sins.  

“Even if she hit you? _Really_? I would’ve told her to leave the store before security came,” Ryan said, crossing his arms behind his head.

Michael perks up, eyes gleaming with irritation, “Did she ever hit you again after that? Like after you started dating?” Michael asks, hidden anger laced in his tone.

Jeremy sits up on the couch, body stiff with shock from the other lad’s question, “I-No! God no- She and I had a very unhealthy relationship, pretty much _toxic_ , but n-no she never did _physically_ hit me,” Jeremy answers shakily.

“What about _mentally_?” 

Jeremy shifts his gaze away from the sins, gripping the couch cushions tightly as the question hits him like a punch to the stomach, “Thinking back on it, nearly every time we spoke it felt like a little bit of my mind chipped off a piece,” The younger lad admits.

“Did it feel like that when she called you?” Asks Jack his voice calmer than any voice Jeremy’s ever heard before.

The shorter man quietly barks out a laugh, “ _Yep_ \- She’ll always be the one to shatter my mind a bit, especially whenever it starts to piece itself back together,” Jeremy admits, his grip loosening on the cushions as Kate’s years of verbal abuse replay in his head.

Jeremy snaps his head up, looking at the six sins as they all stare intently back at him, “What’s worse- That even after all these months I _still_ wish she would take me back,” He vents, whining as he smothers the feeling of stinging in his eyes.

“I-I hate her so much thought at the same time, a-and I couldn’t even tell her that! I-It’s pathetic,” Jeremy rambles, his voice getting louder, his breath becoming more and more ragged.

The sins look at the trembling shorter man, his face red, breath heavy and frantic. All wanting to rush over and calm down the younger with comforting touch…... So, they do.

Jeremy’s loud and frantic mind _silences_. The stabbing words turning dull, his mind completely going blank as the warm solid, yet gentle pairs of arms from the six men wrap around him. Creating a blanket that smothers the negative thoughts clouding over Jeremy’s mind.

It startles the shorter man, he fights his bodily urge to lurch away from the other man's touch. He hesitates to fully join, the six sins actions feeling way too strangely intimate, it being _just_ for Jeremy,

But before he can think about his own actions, the younger lad leans into the others comforting touch. Relaxing his body, the other men’s arms wrap around him tighter, seemingly becoming closer both physically and mentally.

The seven men stay like that until Jeremy jokingly says as he laughs into Ryan’s chest that he can’t breathe, the sins all laugh along with the younger lad as they disperse the mass hug.

“Thanks, I-I really needed that,” Jeremy thanks, smiling at the sins trying to ignore the warmth that grows in his chest as the other men smile back at him.

“Ah It’s no problem Jer-bear,” Gavin tells Jeremy, the sins arm still wrapped around Jeremy’s shoulder.

Jeremy laughs at the new name, he looks over at Gavin a playful smile on the other lips, “A new nickname huh pal?”

“You aren’t official unless you have like a ridiculous amount of idiotic nicknames from Gavin,” Michael scoff loudly, a large grin appearing on his face when Gavin starts to pout.

“So, I’m getting there?” Laughs Jeremy as Michael tackles Gavin taking down Ray with them.

“Oh Jeremy, you’ve been official since you walked through the front door,” Says Geoff, throwing an arm behind Ryan and Jack.

Smirking Jeremy turns away from the gents and joins the other lads on the ground, the older sins laughing and grinning at the lads messing around on the floor.

Another week passes without further problems, Jeremy questions the sins as he keeps getting calls from a blocked number. Geoff shyly admits that he blocked Kates number and deleted her voicemails. Jeremy hugs the older gent and says thanks, the younger lad knowing he himself would’ve never been able to do that.

Pretty soon Kate stops calling.

And Jeremy begins to fully move on.

* * *

 

 

Time keeps flying by. One-night Ryan comes home late from picking up a package, with the slamming of the front door the sins and Jeremy immediately know something went wrong.

The gent stomps empty-handedly past the six men in the kitchen and straight out the back door, the five remaining sins shrug and turn away from where Ryan exited, continuing to help Geoff prep dinner.

Jeremy confusingly stares at the door, then back to the sins scoffing as he watches the sins continue without further question.

“Is this something that _just_ happens normally…Or do you guys just not care?” Jeremy questions, turning to face the sins a puzzled expression on his face.

“Hey man you know what it’s like to go on a package run,” Ray says, leaning against the kitchen counter.

Jeremy huff in agreement, “I do, but what is he doing outside?” The younger lad asks.

“That dumbass is probably going to throw some knives around,” Jacks tells Jeremy.

“It’s Ryan’s way of dealing with anger- besides attacking whoever pissed him off in the first place,” Michael adds, carelessly chopping away at a tomato.  

Jeremy furrows his brows, “So he just casually has throwing knives?”

“Yep, and it’s not just him. _We_ have an entire armory, stocked full of guns, knives, explosives, you name it,” Geoff says, tossing some noodles into a boiling pot of water, before turning to face Jeremy with a large smirk on his face.

“What- Why the fuck do you have an armory!” Exclaims Jeremy throwing up his arms, as the situation keeps becoming more and more hard to comprehend.

“Jeremy dude, we were in a mob,” Michael smugly says, pausing from chopping tomatoes to look over his glasses at the shorter man.

Jeremy opens his mouth for further questioning- but as he digests Michaels words them _actually_ being in a mob, it very _unlikely_ to _not_ have some sort of weapon stash.

“It’s pretty top Lil’J, perfect for when your full of vinegar,” Gavin tells Jeremy.

“Or if your mob day’s come back and get you,” Jokes the younger lad.

Suddenly the back door opens and reveals a still pissed Ryan- Jeremy taking note that the gent has a very large knife in his hand.  

Ryan takes a step inside letting the door close loudly behind him, making Jeremy flinch a bit from the sound. Ryan soundlessly walks by the six men and heads upstairs, feet nosily hitting each step.

Jeremy looks at the five sins, them all stopping from cooking to look at one another. Their silent actions telling the shorter man that this doesn’t fit the usual pattern of Ryan’s stress removal process.

The younger lad gets up from his seat at the kitchen table, “He doesn’t normally come inside, does he?” Jeremy questions, earning a curt nod from Geoff.

“Uh no, he doesn’t,” Jacks says his tone matching his puzzled expression.

A loud crash comes from upstairs, followed by an angry grunt. The six men look at one another, their confusion deepening.

“Is this a bad thing?” Jeremy asks inching closer to the staircase, wanting to see what the gent is doing upstairs.

“Doubt that it’s a _good thing_ ,” Ray mumbles, the sins ignoring prepping dinner as they follow the shorter man’s actions.

“Real helpful Ray,” Michael retorts, rolling his eyes at the other lad.

Before the men can get any closer to the staircase, Ryan stomps down the stairs brushing past the five sins and Jeremy, the gent quietly growling under his breath.

Gavin turns and goes after Ryan, “Lovely Ryan, what are you rummaging about for?”

The gent quickly faces the five men, an annoyed scowl on his face, “My throwing knives are missing, and the rest are dull,” He huffs.

Jeremy looks down at the knife that Ryan still is holding in his hand, noticing that it indeed is dull.

“Would you like some help looking for them?” Jeremy offers, Ryan’s annoyed expression shifting into one of a minor surprise.

“Uh, did you guys tell him about the armory?” Ryan asks pointing at the others then at Jeremy, brows furrowed in confusion.

“They sure did, now I’d like to see it with my own two eyes,” Jeremy answers smiling at Ryan and the others.

“Jeremy buddy, are you one for weaponry?” Jack questions, smirking in surprise.

“Some- I was a knife kind of kid when growing up,” Jeremy says almost proudly.

Ryan perks up more, his anger seemingly gone as he pockets the dull knife, “Well from knife guy to a knife kid, let’s go check out the collection,” Ryan says grinning at the younger lad.

The gent turns back around, towards the other sins, “Who else wants to show off their goods?” Ryan asks.

“I’m game,” Says Gavin.

“Sure, better than chopping tomatoes,” Michael agrees shrugging.   

“I’m gonna stay back here, don’t forget to show Lil’J, my babies,” Ray tells the sins.

Geoff heads back to the stove and stirs in boiling noodles, “Gotta watch the pasta, don’t want my boys to starve,” The older gent says.

Jack sighs as he softly smiles, “I’ll go along, don’t quite trust three trigger-happy men with Jeremy quite yet,” Jack tells them.

Jeremy pales slightly then laughs nervously, “I’m not going to be shot at, right?”

“Not anymore since Jacks coming along,” Gavin says teasingly, squawking as Jack slaps him in the back the head.

“Please don’t kill each other, it’s pasta night and I’m not wanting to clean up any blood,” Geoff complains, warningly pointing at the other sins and Jeremy with a spoon.

The men silently agree, and the older gent earns a mock salute from Michael and Jeremy, the two lads laughing as they exit the kitchen.

Geoff and Ray watch as the back-door closes shut, Geoff then sighs and turns his attention towards Ray, “Someone’s gonna get injured tonight,” the gent sighs.

Ray shrugs and goes over to Geoff, rubbing the older sins back, “Have some faith in them Geoffrey,” the lad tells Geoff leaning up to kiss the tattooed sins cheek, before starting chopping the rest of the tomatoes.

 

 

Reaching the cellars already open doors, Ryan leads Jeremy down the stairs the other three sins following along.

At the bottom of the stairs, the five men see that it’s pitch black, Jeremy stands still the dark room holding some sort of uneasiness as it continues to stay pitch black and silent.

Jeremy's ears twitch as he hears a flip being switched, quickly the darkness disappears, it replaced with light. The shorter man blinking away the sudden change of lighting, looking around the cellar Jeremy’s mouth drops open in shock.

The younger lad gawks as he notices that every wall is decorated completely with various weaponry, Jeremy’s body swivels, looking back at the sins in shock, they four men giggling at the shorter man’s expression.

“From your reaction, I’m taking that you didn’t expect this?” Jack asks already knowing the answer.

“Ah yeah, I guess you can say that,” Jeremy says laughing, as he takes a step forward deeper into the room, “A-And this is shit you’ve had since your mob days?” Jeremy questions.

“Eh kinda- We’ve collected most of everything in here over the last sixty years,” Ryan tells Jeremy, smirking as Jeremy goes over to one of the sins prized possessions.

“Is this a fucking trident! Where the hell do you even get one of these?” Jeremy exclaims, giggling excitingly as he marvels at the three-pronged spear.  

“The internet,” Says Michael grinning as he picks up an antique looking hand-gun.

Gavin copies Michael action and picks up a golden plated hand-gun, the lad admiring it with a look of nostalgia. Gavin turns back to Jeremy smiling, “It amazing on how bloody easy it is to get weapons on the internet.”

“You pay the money then, Boom! Custom knives and trident ready to go,” Jack adds, “Would’ve saved us so much trouble if we had that kind of stuff back then,” He continues mumbling.

“I think the trident is one of the best purchases we’ve made online,” Ryan admits smiling proudly at the trident.

Jeremy walks past the trident and observes the rest of the sins weapon stash, leaving the other four men to look around their own weaponry each one seemingly having a memory attached to it.

Hearing Jeremy laugh the four men set down the weapons and head over to where Jeremy stands, they too laugh seeing that Jeremy had picked up one of Ray’s custom hot-pink guns.

“Why are all these guns pink?” Questions Jeremy, his expression holding an amused confusion.

Michael chuckles loudly as he picks up another hot-pink gun, “Ray started to randomly collect bright pink guns around ten years ago, we still have no clue as to fucking why,” Michael admits, making the younger lad snort in disbelief.

“Really? I mean I gotta admit it’s not too bad of a look,” Jeremy says, starting to get over the shock-factor of a bright pink gun, and having more than just one.

“Says the git who thinks purple and orange go together,” Teases Gavin, smirking knowingly at the shorter man.

Jeremy sighs heavily and puts away Ray’s gun, “Whatever asshole, you just don’t know fashion,” Jeremy says trying to make his tone sound annoyed, but becoming betrayed by his own face as his weak scowl turns into a smile.

Ryan pats Jeremy back before wrapping an arm around the younger lads’ torso, “Sure buddy, we all know you’re a fashion expert,” Ryan assures the shorter man smirking softly.

Jeremy looks up at Ryan and goes to retort, but stops as he realizes how softly Ryan is looking at him. Jeremy closes his mouth and looks down ignoring the warmth in his face.

Jack notices the other gents’ gentle expression and Jeremy reaction, he himself smiles softly knowing that this might be a defining moment for the future.

The bearded gent clears his throat, earning the attention of the three lads and Ryan. The other gent quickly pulling his arm away from Jeremy, the shorter man looking slightly disappointed.

Jack frowns, then gently shakes his head a smile returning to his face, “So Ryan do you still want some help looking for your knives….” Trails off Jack, “Or do you want to just say fuck it and let Jeremy mess around with our armory?” Jack continues, Michael grinning at the offer and Gavin nodding in response.

Ryan kindly smiles at Jack and goes back over to the trident. Picking it up with minimal problem, he throws in a bit up in the air before catching it, “Wanna try it out?” Ryan offers Jeremy, and excited expression meeting Jeremy’s own.

“Wait one more thing Ry, did you set up the targets?” Jack asks.

“Of course! I wasn’t going to throw knives into the wall,” Ryan replies.

“Or at me! Don’t forget when you chased me down and threw knives at me just to prove a point!” Gavin squawks angrily, remembering when Ryan used the brit as a living target.

“In my case, Ray and Geoff both said I was losing my touch,” Ryan argues, “Plus you drank my last can of soda,” Ryan adds trying to justify is previous actions, as he tosses the trident from one hand to the other.

Jeremy snickers as Ryan and Gavin start playfully bicker with one another, slightly wishing he could’ve been there to see the Gavin knife incident.

“Guns tonight?” Asks Michael, innocently smiling as his fingers inch towards a gun behind him.

“No, it’s late and _way_ too loud for tonight,” Jack tells Michael, shooting a glare at the lad as Michaels' hands keep inching closer to the guns.

Michael pulls his hand away and crossing his arms and pouts, Gavin ruffles his boy's hair, the bit cooing at the other lad. The older lad uncrossing his arms and grabbing Gavin in a choke hold as he messes up the other man’s hair.

Jack, Ryan, and Jeremy roll their eyes and ignore then lads, as Ryan hands over the trident. Jeremy surprisingly carries the trident almost as well as Ryan.

Jack motions for Jeremy to follow him, the gent showing the shorter man to where Ryan previously set up the targets.

Jeremy observes the two targets, them looking surprisingly unused.

Jack spots the same thing and asks the other gent, “Did you put out new targets?”

“Yep, the old ones were destroyed from last time,” Ryan answers, kicking the target with his foot.

Ryan turns back to Jeremy, the shorter man still holding strong onto the trident, the weapon being about two and a half heads taller than Jeremy himself.

“Want Ryan or me to show you how to throw it before you give it a go?” Offers Jack.

Jeremy looks between the two gents and hands over the trident to Jack, “Uh, sure here you go.”

Taking the trident from Jeremy, Jack holds it out in front of him, “Here you two stay behind me,” Directs Jack.

Ryan and Jeremy take a step back away from the bearded sin. Jack looks behind at the two making sure they at a safe enough distance, Jeremy gives Jack a thumbs up the gent chuckling in appreciation.

Jack takes a deep breath and holds the trident in his hand, turning it around in an attempt to get a better grip. Once getting the perfect hold, Jack pulls back his arm and throws the trident like you would with a harpoon.

The trident hits the bottom target in the corner missing the painted part completely. Letting out a breathy laugh Jack turns to Jeremy and Ryan, “I think I pulled a muscle,” Jack says, and Jeremy and Ryan let out a round of laughter that Jack joins into.

“Looks hard,” Admits Jeremy, watching at Ryan goes over to the target and roughly rips the trident out.   

“Oh, it is,” Chuckles Ryan, striding towards Jeremy handing over the trident to the shorter man, “But, it gets easier,” the gent says smiling at Jeremy with the same soft smile that makes the younger lad quickly look away.

“Hope so, I still have a better chance than you two old men,” Jeremy jokes.

“I bet,” Says Jack laughing along with Ryan at the shorter man’s jib.

Jeremy avoids both gent’s gaze as the two softly admire him.

Ignoring the two sins, Jeremy lifts the trident and throws.

 ~

“Do you think they got the guns out?” Ray asks Geoff, the two having finished making dinner and going out to the cellar to warn the others.

“We’ve would’ve heard them if they had,” The older sin replies, “But guns or not these pricks still manage to get hurt,” Geoff adds, the two trudging down the stairs hearing cheers and excited shouting.

Turning the corner of the cellar they see Jeremy throw a trident into a target, hitting dead in the center. Making the men all loudly shout out in surprise, Geoff and Ray contributing to it as well, it being a sight to walk into.

“Impressive kid! Hell, of an arm you have,” Exclaims Geoff clapping, the new voice causing the other five men to quickly turn to look at Ray and Geoff.

“Geoff- Jeremy Is un- _fucking_ -believable!” Shouts Michael, him and Gavin stopping themselves for wrestling each other on the armory floor after hearing Jeremy throw the trident the first time.

“Lil’J successfully has six consecutive bullseyes,” Jack boasts, sounding almost taken away.

Geoff quirks a brow, looking at Jeremy with an impressed expression, “Ever thrown of these before?” He asks.

Jeremy shakes his head, the shorter man’s heart beating fast as adrenaline rushes through his body, “No, but a solid couple of years in gymnastics really help with upper body strength,” Jeremy replies.

“Seems like it, not only do you hit it spot on! You drive the trident so deep into the target,” Ryan notes, looking mildly bewildered.

“Ryan looks like he’s about to cream his pants, keep it up Lil’J! This is so far up his ally,” Ray teasingly blurts out, the sins laughing as both Ryan and Jeremy faces turn bright red.

“Alright enough bullying, we all know Ryan has a strength kink-,”

“I really don’t, it’s just the dynamics of a man’s strength and the science of it that I enjoy,” Argues Ryan making the others chuckle.

“Fucking dork,” Michael says smiling at Ryan.

“Well, whatever kink Ryan has, it doesn’t matter right now because dinners ready and I’m not waiting any longer for you asses to eat,” Geoff announces.

“Did you set it out and everything?” Gavin asks.

“Yep and it’s getting colder and colder as time passes by,” Geoff answers, “So, come on, you can keep playing around with your toys later, but right now is eating time,” He adds, turning away from the others and heading back up the cellar stairs.

“Ray you go up on ahead, we gotta clean up this shit up,” Michael tells Ray, looking back at the already destroyed targets.

“Did they show you, my babies, Jer?” Ray asks Jeremy, the younger lad thinking for a moment before realizing the other is talking about the wall of hot-pink weapons.

“Found them myself, quite the awesome collection you got. Glad to know someone else understands the beauty of unusual color choices,” Jeremy says to Ray.

“Mines still better than purple and orange,” Ray replies, winking at Jeremy as he follows Geoff.

Jeremy sighs smiling, “You guys are never going to let that go huh?” He laughs looking at the other sins.

“Nope,” Gavin says grinning.

“It’s okay Lil’J, it’ll pass just like with Gavin’s golden boy phase,” Jack reassures Jeremy, going to pull out the trident from the target.

Gavin squawks, “It took thirty years for that to bleeding pass off,” The brit complains, following Jack as the bearded gent leaves to put away the trident.

Ryan shrugs as the two sins leave his face still semi-red, the gent grabs the targets and leaves the room, throwing one last smile full of pride directed at Jeremy, motioning happily at the destruction at the targets.

With the three sins leaving the room it leaves Michael and Jeremy alone, Michael goes over to Jeremy and grabs the younger lads shoulder with a comforting touch, he smiles, “Next time we’ll try out the guns and crossbows,” Then with that, the final sin leaves the room.

The younger lad reaches up to where Michael touched his shoulder, the sins comforting hand leaving a lingering warmth to Jeremy.

He exits the cellar with a smile on his face and a mind full of questions.

* * *

 

Things begin to change- small, but important.

It’s the small things that Jeremy starts to recognize, like how the sins slowly and unknowingly start to show more affection towards one another when Jeremy’s around, Jeremy already knowing that the six sins are already together. Even though he continues to not tell the sins he knows- the shorter man is still shocked to walk in onto Geoff, Michael and Gavin all making out on the couch late one night. He quickly and quietly leaves, ignoring the hollow ache in his chest when he goes to bed that night.

The small things where they start to tell Jeremy more and more about themselves and the demon world, on how being summoned to the world above the underworld was the best thing that happened to all of them.

Small things where the six sins start to become more active with Jeremy in a physical sense.

Like Jack, who was already pretty touchy, to begin with, becoming more physical than usual. Whenever the bearded sin was around the younger lad, the gent would have some sort of hand or arm resting on Jeremy’s arm, back, shoulder- whatever. Quickly moving away if the lad gave any sort of sign of discomfort. Which was never really, as Jeremy thrived in the comforting casual contact.

Like Gavin, who like Jack, was already touchy he starting to become more than that. The brit turning into more like a second shadow to the younger lad. Gavin starts to hang around Jeremy more one on one, the lad actively flirting and teasing around with the shorter man. Jeremy returning the flirting back, making a personal mission to make the brits face as red as the other men can make him. Feeling proud when the mission ends rather quickly as one surprisingly dirty statement from Jeremy making the other lads face bright red.

Like Ryan, who the two still bake late at night together- start to hang out even more during the day. The gent personally inviting Jeremy down the cellar to play around with the sins armory, Ryan telling off the other men, saying that the time is just for the two of them. Ryan teaches Jeremy how to use almost every piece of weaponry they have, showing the lad each one with a _hands-on_ approach. Jeremy in return names the two of them together as battle buddies, the shorter man noticing whenever he announces the name- Ryan not so sneakily looks at the shorter man with such admiration that it makes Jeremy's legs go weak.

Like Ray, who starts to attach himself to Jeremy whenever they’re in the same room together. The hoodied lad making more of an attempt to talk and hang out with the other lad, Jeremy happily accepting Ray’s offers of video game marathons and competitions. The two men bonding over being considered the two youngest lads- even though Ray is almost eighty years older than Jeremy. The younger lad finding comfort in the laid-backness of Ray, knowing that if things become a little too much. Jeremy always has a place next to Ray to help come back to earth a little bit.

Like Geoff, who at first sounded like Jeremy’s boss- and still sometimes does -slowly starts to sound more a lover towards Jeremy. The tattooed sin loosely wrapping at arm around the younger lad during movie nights, encouraging Jeremy to use him as a pillow when the shorter man starts to pass out. Inviting Jeremy to join him in the kitchen while making dinner, taking suggestions from the younger lad for dinner ideas or just to have the shorter man in the room with him. Jeremy realizing that the tattooed sin seems care about Jeremy in the same kind of ways the gent cares for the others.

Like Michael, who decided to put himself in charge of protecting Jeremy from himself or from others. The feisty sin still occasionally helping around the house with Jeremy, but even as the work slows down- as the house’s problems are almost completely fixed up, Michael still hangs around the shorter man. He starts to join in with Gavin’s one on one time, teaming up with Jeremy to tease the other lad till Gavin’s face can’t turn any redder. Jeremy spotting how the _still_ loud and boisterous lad, looks and speaks at Jeremy kindly and caringly.

Jeremy sees the smaller things, the touching, the staring, the playful banter and the others nearly fighting of getting to spend time with him.

But Jeremy sees every little new quirk, as the others just wanting to have Jeremy fit into the household treating him like a new roommate, seeing that they all are going to live together for an extended time. The shorter man not even thinking of the possibility of the sins new quirks being _more_ than just friendly, them just wanting to stop the crumbling of a _friend_ \- nothing else.

Because to Jeremy, the six sins already have one another, and no man _or_ demon can have _that_ much love for a sixth lover, especially with a man like _Jeremy_.          

Jeremy sees the _small_ things but misses the **big** picture.

He misses the purpose of the longingly and caring looks, the intention of the six men gentle and kind touches, the reason for all the personal invitations to hang out just one on one.

But importantly, Jeremy misses the disappointment the others start to feel after all their failed attempts of corralling the shorter man into the idea of being in a relationship with them. The six sins thinking that Jeremy is too kind to tell the other men off, knowing that the younger lad is exactly like that.

The sins start to stay up at nights all tangled up in bed with one another, them all voicing they're wanting for the shorter man to join them. Even in the bed full of five men, they all share the same sense of emptiness with Jeremy not sleeping right next to them.

The six men push through the pain and keep hanging around Jeremy- but dial it back a bit not wanting Jeremy to feel uncomfortable. Them knowing that if all they get is friendship from the shorter man, it still temporarily fills the missing piece that the sins feel in their life.

But not completely getting rid of the emptiness they still feel when they go to sleep at night.

 

 

“Are you sure we bought garlic? I think that was one of the things Jack meant to grab but forgot,” Jeremy calls out kneeling on the counter as he searches through the cabinets.

“I swear we bought some, Gavin grabbed a couple on the way out!” Answers Ryan shouting from the living room.

Hearing their names being called Jack and Gavin enter the kitchen to see what’s going on, “What are you doing on the counter Lil’J?” Questions Gavin, looking at Jeremy amusingly.

Jeremy sighs and turns to look at the two sins, “Since you so kindly asked, we still haven’t bought a stool to stand on, and you evil fucks still put all the spices and shit on the top shelf,” Jeremy says hopping off the counter.

“You could’ve always asked for help,” Geoff tells Jeremy washing his hands in the sink.

“Yeah like I’d let you and your raw meat hands touch _my_ spice collection,” Jeremy replies, smiling at the tattooed sin.

“They were _my_ spices in the first place,” Argues Geoff flicking water at Jeremy from the sink.    

Jeremy laughs as he dodges the water attack and watches as it hits Gavin instead, the brit immediately letting out an indignant cry.

“Geoff! Come on you don’t know what was in that water Geoff,” Squawks Gavin, weakly scowling at the older sin.

“Eh, it’s just a mixture of animal blood and old food,” Jeremy says teasingly, cracking up when the other lad gags.

“So, helping Geoff out with dinner tonight?” Jack asks the shorter man, Jeremy smiling between a mixture of pride and wickedness.       

“Yep! Finally got to try out a new bread formula and wrote up a recipe for Geoff to try out,” Jeremy answers, “But you guys don’t have all the ingredients we need, so I gotta change up the recipe a bit,” Adds the younger lad.

“Lil’J is basically the mastermind for dinner tonight, I’m just the humble chef helping the lad out,” Geoff explains putting on a terribly fake british accent that makes even Jack and Jeremy cringe.

The four men continue to playfully bicker with one another as they continue to cook dinner, accompanied by the sounds of video games being played from the other room

Hearing a loud rhythmic knocking come from the front door, it stops the younger lad in mid-sentence as he stares confusingly at the others, the sins looking back at him with a sly smile.

Jeremy watches from the kitchen as Michael bolts up from the couch, a loud thumping sound as the feisty lads’ controller falls to the floor.

“You finally fucking made it!” The younger lad hears Michael say, the three sins smiling at Jeremy motioning for the shorter man to follow them as they leave the kitchen.

The younger lad hesitantly moves from his spot in the kitchen and creeps around a corner to watch as the six sins crowd around the front door.

Furrowing his brows in confusion as he spots a head with long red hair between the crowd, slowly moving towards the others he freezes as he hears an unfamiliar feminine voice speak.   

The six sins split away, fully showing a casually dressed woman closing the front door behind herself. Jeremy frowns in response to the strange human in the house- antsy about the new person he partially hides himself back behind a wall.

“It’s hard when you’re running a motel all by yourself Michael,” Laughs the red-headed woman, punching the feisty lad in the arm.

“Good to see you Linds,” Gavin tells the woman, giving her a hug.

“You too Gav,” She says returning the hug, “So, where’s the dude you all can’t shut up about?” Asks the women, looking at the six sins.

Jeremy can’t help the budding of hope that he feels when the woman talks, the shorter man watches as the six men look around for Jeremy. The sins frowning when they don’t spot the shorter man, Geoff thinking that the younger lad was right behind him.

Jeremy takes a deep breath and steps away from the wall, he makes eye contact with the red-haired woman before clearing his throat to catch the attention of the six sins.

“Who is she?” Jeremy questions, looking anxiously at the other men and unfamiliar woman.  

The red-haired woman smiles softly at the younger lad and moves past the six sins, offering a hand to Jeremy, “I’m Lindsay, you must be Jeremy,” She kindly introduces.

“Don’t know if they told you, but my dad was the one who fixed up these losers house the first time,” Adds Lindsay, Jeremy staring at the woman’s hand before slowly shaking it, surprised at the strong grip he gets in return.    

“I-I Uh, yeah they did- Sorry about your dad,” Jeremy tells Lindsay with an apologetic expression, letting his hand drop to his side when Lindsay lets go of his hand.

Lindsay’s smile falters for a second before returning to full strength, “Eh, it happened years ago I’m working past it.”

Jeremy looks past Lindsay towards the six sins, pointing a finger at the red-haired woman, “I thought you didn’t really talk with humans- uh, shit I mean _people_?” Jeremy asks correcting himself, not knowing if Lindsay knows that the other men are not mortals.

Lindsay laughs, the sins join in going over to stand back next to Jeremy and Lindsay, “We know some _humans_ from town who don’t hate us- plus Lindsay’s dad help us fix our roof and we hung out with Lindsay while he worked,” Geoff admits, smiling tiredly at the memory of watching of human’s kid.

“Oh, that makes sense. And no offense- but why is she here?” Jeremy asks eyeballing Lindsay before turning to look at the six sins.

“Before you came here, Lindsay and us would get together and have dinner whenever she got a break from work,” Jack explains to Jeremy.

“But business has been rough since you’ve arrived here, she didn’t have the time to stop by until now,” Michael says, wrapping an arm around Lindsay’s shoulder. Making Jeremy narrow his eyes as jealously flares up in his chest, quickly pushing it away before any of the sins can pick up on it.

“So, we planned a surprise dinner party for the two of you to meet!” Gavin admits smiling brightly at Jeremy and Lindsay.

Lindsay looks at the six men and pulls them into a hug, “These guys have been planning so long now. It’s important to them for their now _second_ favorite human to meet their _new_ favorite human- no hard feeling either, I think it’s great!” Lindsay tells Jeremy, the six sins shyly looking away at Jeremy as the shorter man looks down at his feet, face warming up.

Lindsay frowns at the seven men and lets' go of the sins, feeling an awkwardness start to fester in the room. Taking a step forward to head into the kitchen, Lindsay turns around and faces the men, “Alright enough with introductions, I think it’s about time to get cooking. I’ve been waiting _months_ to eat your cooking again Geoff,” Lindsay announces.

The six sins slowly look up at Lindsay, picking up on the red-headed woman’s irritation and anger towards them. They all avoid making direct eye contact with Jeremy, not wanting to make the younger lad anymore uncomfortable then they _think_ he already is.

The shorter man tries not to take the sins avoidance personally. He takes a deep breath before talking, “Sounds like a good plan, if we had some extra hands I’d go faster, want to help?” Offers Jeremy weakly smiling, himself avoiding looking at the other men.

Two can play that game he tells himself.

“Sure! Just let me take off my jacket,” Lindsay agrees watching as Jeremy nods in response and give a tight smile before heading into the kitchen.

The second Jeremy leaves Lindsay whips around and grabs the collars of Geoff and Michaels's shirts dragging them closer to her, the two sins forcing the others to come along.

Lindsay glares at the six men, a serious look in her eyes, “We are _so_ talking about what the fuck is going on between you all and Jeremy _later_ , but for right now I deserve a delicious home cooked meal,” Lindsay asserts roughly as the sins quickly nod in understanding.

Lindsay smiles sweetly and lets go of Michael and Geoff, “Now go help out your lover boy in the kitchen,” She says patting them lightly on the cheek, then shoving them towards the kitchen as she starts to take off her jacket.

She hopefully thinks by the time dinner ends the seven men will have figured everything out between them….  

 

 

It doesn’t.

It somehow worsens.

Dinner begins when they all sit at a dining table they had to pull out from the back. Lindsay, being the only one eating while the seven men just push around their food. The room stays deathly silent, the overall mood of dinner feeling like it was back all those months ago.

Lindsay stares across the table at her fellow human, the shorter man scratching at the side of his plate with his fork, causing the only sound that penetrates the awkwardness in the room. She clears her throat and earns the attention of the six sins- leaving Jeremy to keep picking at his plate.

“Your cooking never gets old does it, Geoff?” Lindsay says attempting to start a conversation, “It tastes a little different than usual, did you try something new?” She asks before taking another bite.

The sins quickly glance towards Jeremy before returning to look at Lindsay, “I guess you can say that” Geoff tells Lindsay.

“Jeremy decided to write a recipe for Geoff to try out,” Jack admits, making Jeremy’s head shoot up at the sound of his name being called.

Lindsay’s brows rise in interest, looking over at Jeremy smiling, “You have a knack for cooking Jeremy?” She asks, feeling pleased as the awkwardness that clouds over starts to feel like it’s dying down.

Jeremy’s eyes meet the sins eyes for seems like a second before falling, he hums in response pausing from picking at his plate to now push around his food, his appetite having disappeared once they sat down for dinner.

“He’s more of a baker though, makes some mean cakes,” Speaks up Ray, the lad feeling accomplished upon seeing a small smile creep across the younger lad’s lips.  

“He made the bread tonight, none of that store-bought biz,” Gavin says, flashing a soft smile towards Jeremy.

“Oh, wow really! were you’d learn how to do that?” Lindsay questions Jeremy, trying to get the shorter man to talk.

Jeremy shrugs, “Back home I guess, plus the internet. It’s pretty easy once you a recipe and all the ingredients,” Admits Jeremy, “When you have time you should try it out,” Jeremy tells Lindsay.

“I’ll try, probably won’t turn out as good as yours though,” Lindsay says complimenting the shorter man.   

Jeremy smiles as Lindsay’s praise, glad to know that his bread worked out, “Thanks, but in all honesty, it took me about three different batches to get to where it is now,” Jeremy thanks as he continues to admit to his baking failures.

Lindsay laughs and motions with a fork towards the six sins, “What about these bozos, you teach ‘em anything?” She asks.

Jeremy chuckles loudly, “I try, but these fucks-,” Jeremy points at the three other lads, “Always start a flour battle and make a mess of the kitchen,” Jeremy announces laughing and the other lads start loudly protesting across the table, the four lads ending up bickering as the gents and Lindsay laugh at the scene playing out.

Dinner started out rough, awkward and tense. But ended up being one of the better more memorable dinners Lindsay’s had at the six sins house.

The eight ends up with completely empty plates, stomachs full and moods high. But Lindsay’s nightly goal isn’t completed.

Jeremy and Lindsay find themselves alone in the living room as the sins- on the wish/command from Lindsay- to clean off the table using the excuse as her being the guest and Jeremy mainly helping with dinner.

In reality, Lindsay really wanted a moment with Jeremy alone to get a full understanding without the unhelpful interruptions of the other six men.   

“So, Jeremy,” Lindsay starts turning to face the shorter man, her tone slightly less bright then it has been the entire dinner.

“Yeah Lindsay?” Replies Jeremy tilting his head in confusion at the red-head.

“Uh- How has it been living with these guys?” Asks Lindsay slowly and quietly, motioning behind her towards the kitchen.

The question shocks Jeremy, he looks away and studies the floor for a minute, before looking back up at Lindsay, “Really good, like _really, really_ good,” He grins as he glances over at the sins past the couch, “Almost impossibly good. This-These months have been some of the best of my life, and I-I don’t ever want to leave _them_ ,” Jeremy admits laughing softly, looking away from the red-haired woman.

Lindsay's eyes soften, and she grabs Jeremy’s hand in hers, making the younger lad eyes meet hers, “You love them,” she declares.

Jeremy feels a sudden calmness in Lindsay’s words like he’s floating up in space. He curtly nods and swallows around the lump in his throat, “I-I do, it’s weird but it’s good, I stupidly love every single one of those morons,” He admits quietly followed by a weak chuckle, the feeling of admitting aloud makes him continue to internally float higher.        

“From their texts and how they’ve been acting, it seems they also ‘stupidly love’ you too, plus it makes it easier knowing that their already together, you _did_ know that right?” Lindsay questions furrowing his brows her voice getting a bit louder at the thought of Jeremy _not_ knowing about the six sins relationship.

Jeremy looks at the red-head face burning at Lindsay’s confession, then laughs loudly and nervously at sudden intensity of Lindsay’s question, “Yeah- yeah I know. I mean they didn’t directly tell me but-,”

“Wait! What!? You idiots!” Lindsay exclaims, jumping off the couch and into the kitchen, Jeremy following quickly behind her worried about the sins reaction.

Upon reaching the kitchen, Jeremy sees all the sins looking mildly afraid as Lindsay storms into the kitchen, “You idiots never told Jeremy that you're all together!?”

The sins freeze and their faces loose color, all staring at Lindsay in shock then in panic when they turn to look at Jeremy, who just looks at the sins shyly. 

“W-Well-,” Lindsay holds up her hand to silence a stumbling Ryan, “Are you serious! That should be like the first fucking thing you say!” She shouts.

“We didn’t know if he’d take it well in the beginning!” Geoff argues.

Lindsay scoffs, “Then at least admit to it when you get all buddy-buddy!” She says, “He already knew, I didn’t have to spoil anything,” Lindsay adds, crossing her arms and looking at the six sins a disappointed expression on her face.

Jeremy watches as the six other men’s faces go from blank to red, the sins adam's apple bobbing as they swallow, “I-Uh how long have you known?” Jack asks, trying to make eyes contact with the younger lad.

“I kind of expected something was up I think, maybe by the end of the first month?” Jeremy admits doubtfully.

The other men blanched, “That quickly?” Asks Ray.

Jeremy nods, “The one main bedroom and one guest room kind of set it off,” Jeremy replies trying to joke, only making Jack chuckle a bit.

“Plus, I saw the ways you guys touch, and look at each other. The small things, the _important_ things in a relationship,” Jeremy tells the sins, their color returning to red it almost acting like a light switch.

“And I thought we hid it pretty bloody well,” Gavin announces, making the five other sins laugh.

“Gav, you’re the worst at hiding shit like this,” Michael says, making Gavin glare at the other lad.

“You picked up us _all_ being in a relationship- by just our subtle actions with one another?” Ryan questions.   

Then it’s Jeremy turn for his face to redden, “Ah- y-you guys really solidified my thoughts when I walked into you three-,” Jeremy starts pointing at Geoff, Gavin and Michael, “Making out on the couch one night, plus- walls are thin and Ryan’s _not_ the only one with insomnia,” Jeremy shyly explains, his face burning at the hinting of what he’s witnessed and _heard_ over the time period of living there.

“ _Oh_ ,”

“Yeah,”

“He-,”

“You- You’ve heard us shagging! This keeps getting worse and worse,” Gavin exclaims flailing his arms out up into the air.

Jeremy covers his face, his hands feeling freezing cold to what seems his bright red burning face. The other lads and Geoff doing the same but to hide their embarrassment.   

“Even after all that you still didn’t say anything, why?” Jack asks.

The shorter man takes a deep breath and pulls away his hands from his face, “I thought you guys would make it official by telling me when you wanted to,” Jeremy answers truthfully, making the others stop hiding behind their own hands, them all staring at Jeremy with an unrecognizable expression that still manages to calm them all down. 

The moment gets broken by Lindsay softly laughing, “This is good! Talking is good, you seven talking about this is great!”

“I sense a ‘but’ coming along Linds,” Michael breathes.

“Buuuut, there is one last thing I gotta do before I head back into town,” Lindsay says, “Jeremy buddy, but I gotta take your boys for a second. I’ll give ‘em back as soon as I can,” Lindsay tells Jeremy, looking at the shorter man like she’s wanting permission from him.

Quirking a brow, “Sure? Just don’t yell at them anymore then you have, I’d like them to _hear_ the things I wanna tell them,” Jeremy agrees.

“I’ll try not to, thanks, J. Now outside you bozos!” Lindsay orders the sins her sounding like he means business.

With one last admiring look from Jeremy, the six sins shuffle out the back door and into the refreshing night air, that blows into the kitchen leaving goosebumps on Jeremy’s skin in its wake.

“Jeremy, I’m gonna have to bounce right after I talk to them, it was so lovely meeting you and I know you and these idiots-,” She says waving her hand at the back door, “-Are going to work out wonderfully,” Lindsay vows to the shorter man, grinning largely as she gives Jeremy a big bear hug, “Hope to see you again very soon, keep up with the bread making it’s delicious.”

Lindsay rushes out after the six men already shouting as she leaves the kitchen, Jeremy laughs to himself as he stands alone in the middle of the kitchen.

He thinks over Lindsay’s words and feels a rush of warmth wash over him, knowing by the end of this night, nearly half a year since he’s been living with the sins. _Months_ of living with six men he’s fallen hard for. And he’s been time wasting away with the other six men, and tonight _might_ be the night to change that.

-

Lindsay finds the six sins all crowded around one another, leaning against the side of the house their arms crossed in the attempt to keep their warmth. The men’s eyes following as Lindsay carefully as she walks up to them, a scowl on her face.

“What are we doing outside? We could’ve just met upstairs,” Questions Ryan scrunching up his nose.

“Nah, I wanted to see you guys suffer by being out in the cold with no shoes on,” She tells them looking down at the six men’s socked feet, and hers being shoed.

“Also, you all are throwing the biggest emotional shit fest I’ve ever seen,” Lindsay adds putting her hands on her hips, throwing an accusatory glare towards the sins.

The feisty lad huffs, “Alright so we’ve kinda fucked up, but we’re working on it,” Michael assures the other red-head.

“How?” Lindsay asks crossing her arms.

“We’ve been flirting with Lil’J for weeks now, maybe even months. But he keeps taking them as jokes or like we’re pulling a prank on him or something,” Geoff admits rubbing his heavily tattooed arm.

“Linds he’s not wanting to be with _us_ -,” Jack says motion at him and the five other men, “-In the same way we’re wanting to be with _him_ ,” He expresses frowning heavily, the other sins expressions matching the bearded sin.

Lindsay’s glare softens at the sins faces, then hardens again realizing he’s dealing with _seven_ oblivious idiots, “Well after just talking with Jeremy I know that’s total bullshit-,” Lindsay harshly discloses, glaring at the sins as they open their mouth to protest, “-And to continue, did _any_ of you **ever** directly tell him how you feel about him?” She counters.

By telling how the sins all look away from her, like a group of children being scolded by a teacher, she knows that the sins **indeed** have not done _anything_ , “No? My god, you are completely helpless with this kind of stuff! It’s crazy to even think how you all even got together in the first place!” She shouts back, her intense gaze burning into the sins flesh.

“Took a _couple_ years,” Ray mumbles.

“It’s working out though innit?” Gavin states his voice coming out strong, “We’re still together- not just as being some deadly sins- but, _together_ ,” Goes on the brit.

Lindsay’s anger completely deflates but her annoyance still stays, “You guys may not have a couple years to work things out with Jeremy, six months _has_ to be enough time seeing that he’s already head over heels in love with your dumbasses- for whatever reason,” Lindsay chides laughing at the six sins shyly look away from her knowing she doesn’t always get to see this side of the sins very often.

Pulling out her phone she checks the time and sighs angrily, “I gotta head out, but before I go theirs three things I need you all to do; Sit down with Jeremy and tell him how you all feel, the boy already loves you, so it’ll be hard to screw up. The old man at the post office keeps spreading rumors that Jeremy’s one of you, so figure out that problem _once_ done with you lover boy problems. And finally, for the last time, **don’t** let Jeremy crumble before you, he’s important to _me_ and to you _all_ ,” Lindsay bellows feistily pointing at the sins.

“Do you all understand what I’m tell you to do?”

“Grow a pair of balls and tell Jeremy how we feel,” Michael says.

“Alright,”

“Old man’s been saying shit, figure out why _after_ dealing with Jeremy,” Geoff sighs.

“Yep,”

“Keep an eye out for Jeremy, don’t treat him like he’s made of glass, but try to keep him healthy both mentally and physically,” Answers Ryan sounding very serious, making Lindsay and the others look at him in surprise.

“Couldn’t have said it better Ry, theirs a light missing in him- don’t know what made it disappear- but give him love, he’s been waiting for a while,” Lindsay tells the sins, a grim expression on her face before softly smiling at the men.

She gives each sin a big hug and a kiss on the cheek, “Gotta get back before the first booking- _call me_ when you finally fix this mess,” Lindsay orders the sins shouting at them, as she leaves out the back gate towards her car.

The sins wave and yell back at Lindsay in confirmation, them all standing in the backyard with wet socks as they come up with a plan for what they should do _once_ they go back inside.

 _Knowing_ that tonight will be _the_ night things change.

~    

Returning inside the house all high-strung, fearful, but **ready** for _the_ talk with the shorter man. The six sins expected to find Jeremy anxiously waiting in the kitchen where they last saw him, or even nervously hiding away in the living room waiting alone in the dark- Knowing that’s what they’d be doing in this situation.

 _Never_ did they expect to find Jeremy to be standing confidently in _their_ own bedroom, lights on and staring at the sins with a neutral expression his face.

Jeremy gestures for the six men to sit on the bed. The younger lad treating the situation like a business meeting, rather than a serious conversation about the future for the seven of them.     

“I’m here to talk and I hope you all are too,” Jeremy says flatly, standing in front of the sins as they all sit on the bed obediently.     

“We are,” Geoff admits the other sins nodding in agreement.

“You guys love me,” Sternly states Jeremy without further hesitation, the shorter man’s words taking the breath out of the sins.  

Jeremy lets the silence brew for a second before relaxing his face, “I love you guys too,” Declares the younger lad, “I want to join you all- if you guys want me.”

It takes what seems like an hour for Jeremy’s words to fully register in the six sins brains, the younger lad lets out a hearty laugh as he watches the realization dawn upon the other men’s faces them all grinning largely at Jeremy.

The six sins quickly bum-rush Jeremy and pull the shorter man into a hug, them all falling back onto the bed. Loud laughter full of relief and happiness.

“I can take this as a yes, yeah?” Jeremy pipes up letting the men hold him tightly to them.

“Hundred-fucking-percent yes,” Michael excitedly tells Jeremy, making the others laugh.

“Damn this worked out better than we could’ve ever planned,” Jack admits.

Jeremy perks up and looking curiously at the sins as he sits up, the other men’s arms moving away letting the younger lad get up, they continue to lay on the bed looking up at Jeremy blissful expressions on their faces.

“You made up a plan to talk to me,” Jeremy says smiling, “What was it?” He questions.

“Sit you down, talk, _hopefully_ , fix things and end the night with a little kissing,” Sheepishly admits Ryan.

“Sounds like my plan,” Jeremy says, “ _Even_ with the kissing part,” Jeremy teases feeling his face warm up at his own words, coming out dirtier than he intended for.

“You didn’t pussy out as we probably would have,” Ray comments.

“Good idea for talking in the bedroom, the bed is much more comfortable than the couches,” Geoff tells Jeremy stretching out further onto the bed, “Knowing you Lil’J you probably knew we’d not be leaving the bedroom for the rest of the night,” He adds smirking.

Jeremy splutters over his next words, making the other men chuckle and waggle their eyebrows to further make Jeremy stumble over himself, “I-It’s gonna take a little more than a love confession to get into this man’s pants,” He chides, feeling the bed shake slightly from the force of the sins laughter.

“Lil’J it feels too good to properly flirt with you,” Gavin says, “Even though we’ve been flirting with you for _months_ now,” Adds the brit.

“Months? You mean you’ve been wanting me for that long?” Jeremy questions looking at the sins, them all looking up at Jeremy and nodding.

“You idiot we’ve been throwing our feelings in your face!” Michael blurts.

“All the touching, the staring, the flirting it was all serious. Holy shit I thought you all were just pulling my leg! You just wanting to become more buddy-buddy since I’m living with you guys!” Jeremy exclaims sounding bewildered.

“We thought you were too nice to tell off six guys!” Ryan tells Jeremy.

“So, when you guys started to pull back-,” Jeremy trails off, frowning.

“We didn’t want to make you feel uncomfortable by our constant pining and flirting,” Jack admits, “Friendship was better than having nothing with you,” He continues.

Jeremy blinks at the sins before covering his face with his hands, sighing heavily as he flops down on the bed next to the sins, “I basically fucking friend-zoned myself without even knowing, I’m an idiot,” Jeremy says his words coming out muffled from beneath his hands.

“Hey-,” Gavin coos pulling Jeremy hands away from his face, “-We’re all bloody idiots, majorly so,” the other lad continues reassuringly, Gavin’s softly smiling face leaning over him.

Jeremy before knowing what he’s doing pulls Gavin down by the neck and kisses the brit. The kiss being rather clumsy as it’s been a long time since he’s kissed another person in that way.

Gavin slowly pulls away from Jeremy quietly giggling, Jeremy joining in feeling a bit giddy himself.

“I got to kiss Jeremy first,” Brags Gavin in a sing-song tone, earning a light shove from Jeremy knocking over the other lad onto Ryan, making Gavin and Ryan complain while the other men laugh.

“Please don’t tell me you guys started a bet on who’d get to kiss me first,” Jeremy begs.

Gavin not so subtly across Ryan over to the other sins, “You all owe me a fifty,” he loudly whispers.

Jeremy groans in faux anger before laughing softly, climbing off the bed and surprising each sin with a kiss. Giving Gavin a second chaste kiss with the other lad squawks and pouts as he’s left out.

The shorter goes to lay back down where he was originally but gets stopped as he lets the sins drag him into the middle between the six men. Jeremy hears the sins hum in contentment.

“To think all it took for us to get like this was Lindsay’s bullying,” Ray says earning the attention of the six other men, them chuckling softly.

“Months of time we could’ve been like this, kissing, sharing the same bed-,” Michael says trailing off smiling, “-Winning bets,” He continues elbowing Gavin.

“Better now than later, could’ve happened earlier but better than never,” Ryan says it sounding like he’s reciting it out of a book.

“That one of your dorky Shakespeare quotes?” Geoff questions Ryan, tone teasing.

“No,” Ryan deflects, the others looking at the gent in disbelief before laughing.

The room continues in comfortable quietness, the seven men feeling more relaxed and _whole_. The sins savoring the ability to now hold Jeremy the way they’ve been wanting to for months, the shorter man feeling ten times more at home than anywhere he’s been.

“You’re okay with being like this-,” Asks Geoff kissing the younger lad again, before letting Jeremy go and sitting up, “- _With us_ , right?” The gent continues, earning a huff from Jeremy.

“ _Completely_ \- I _was_ the one to get you all in here with the idea of confessing my love and having the not-so-pure intentions of making out,” Jeremy says seriously before his tone turned to one more joking.

“Have you dated guys before, or was _Kate_ your first-time dating ever?” Jack asks Jeremy, “It’s cool if where like the first guy’s you date, we just don’t want to overwhelm you- with the six of us,” The bearded sin continues, as Gavin rubs his arm when he tensed slightly at Kates name.

“My _ex_ -was the first _girl_ I dated,” Jeremy answers before laughing awkwardly, “Me and uh- _Matt_ , dated for a little bit in high school. My family and everyone else was okay with people being bisexual, but didn’t work out too well when we realized we’re better as best-friends than _boyfriends_ ,” Jeremy continues, thinking back on how awkward it was being with Matt in that way.

The sins look at Jeremy a bit funny, imagining from what they heard about Matt and Jeremy’s dynamic it sounded like they treated each other like brothers.

“We were two confused teenagers, who didn’t exactly know why our fellow guy _and_ girl classmates turned us on,” Jeremy admits, bed slightly shaking again from laughter.

“Was it like a friend with benefits kinda thing?” Michael questions the younger lad.

“Kind of- never got to that point…. We started dating because we thought we love each other, but after an embarrassing night of failed ‘ _attempts’_ and my parents walking in. We realized that we did _love_ each other- but **not** in the way, I _loved_ Kate-,” Jeremy trails off feeling another hand start petting his hair, “-The way I love _you_ guys… So, we broke up and stayed best-friends,” The shorter man finishes, closing his eyes as Gavin’s hand on his arm and whoever’s hand in his hair doing wonderful things for Jeremy.

Noticing when Geoff, Ryan and Ray move- the calming hand moves from his hand, pulling a whine from Jeremy and a snickering from Ray. Jeremy opens his eyes and softly scowls at the other lad.

“Glad to know you’re not gonna blame us for ‘ridding’ you of your heterosexuality, some people are like that,” Geoff says cheerfully fully getting off the bed with Ryan and Ray doing the same.

Jeremy feels the other three on his right side get up as well, making the shorter man sit up and not get off the bed completely. Jeremy looks at the six sins in a questioning manner.

“Where are you all leaving to, thought we were gonna stay in bed for the rest of the night?” Jeremy asks the sins, the warmth of being in the middle of the six men already starting to fade away.

“We still got some left-over dishes and then a dessert to eat,” Ryan tells Jeremy, the shorter man still looking at them in question.

“Think of it this way, we get the dishes done now we can have dessert quicker,” Jack says.

“Can’t my cake wait for tomorrow?” Jeremy asks.

“Who says the cake _is_ the dessert,” Gavin says teasingly, winking at the younger lad. Making the other sins snicker and laugh with Jeremy’s face goes bright red at the brit’s words.

“You dicks I hate you so much,” Mumbles Jeremy, standing up from the bed trying to walk out the room before the other lads trap him into their arms.

“You said you love us, can’t take that shit back,” Michael jokes to Jeremy messing with the younger lad’s hair as they pull away, laughing.

Jeremy throws his arms behind the other lads back and beams at them and the gents, “I know,” He says brightly, “and I hope I never will,” He tells them in complete honesty.

* * *

 

  

Since the dinner party with Lindsay, and the resolving of the sexual/love tension between the seven men. Life continues on better than ever, Jeremy quickly stops sleeping alone in his room, him and the other men preferring the shorter man to stay with them in bed- after them all wanting it to happen for so long.

Jeremy notices how much the sins were holding back with physically with each other- _and_ with himself- knowing that Jeremy always knew of their relationship, and Jeremy _now_ being involved with them- they don’t have to hide anything.

Jeremy responds to the others in full, returning the lingering touches and the cuddling on the couch, to the rough _and_ sweet kisses. The shorter man commits into the sins relationship head-on, no longer fearful of the other men’s intentions with him to be taken as a joke or afraid of the sins rejecting him as a whole.

They did as they were told and called Lindsay the next day, her ecstatic voice coming through the phone's speaker as they all lay in bed with one another. Them all laughing as Lindsay lightly threatens the sins for _if_ they ever hurt Jeremy, then her switching role and warning Jeremy of the same thing for the sins.

 They end the call by making plans for another get-together in a couple weeks. 

By the time any of them knows it- it’s been three months since Lindsay bullied them into talking with one another, _three months_ of Jeremy being seriously involved with the sins.

Instead of time going by like a quick dream-scape, every minute passing gets treated like a precious gem.

Things pass by, get fixed, get better.

The six sins are happy, Kate’s becoming nothing but _only_ a bad-dream as days continue to go by. Terrible memories of the past and nights full of nightmares start to happen less and less… Jeremy’s more than _good_.

Everything rises and _keeps_ rising, without the obvious sign of a fall-

But there’s a pattern in life that repeats if not taken care of, theirs a wall that needs to break down completely- to fully heal. If a brick gets pulled at its strongest point it becomes weak- What happens to weak walls?

They collapse.

~

Keeping true to their word, the six sins look into the rumors of Jeremy being a demon like them. Unfortunately, they find out that the old man at the post office, been trying to rally up the town to completely ban the sins.

Luckily- thanks to Lindsay and some other humans who’ve interacted with the six sins over the years- they managed to calm down the townspeople and the proposition to ban the sins gets turned down and forgotten.

The sins still feel unsettled as the old man keeps hassling Jeremy, even after the town turned against him. They know from the years dealing with the old man at the post office, that he _does_ have some kind of knack for sensing demons…. They don’t know what to think of it.

But it worries the sins.

 

 

“You know what the ancient dude at the post office been telling me?” Jeremy asks sitting down at the kitchen table, careful not to disturb any of the papers and dusty myth booking covering the said table.

Ryan nods, “You know how he recently tried to get the entire town to ban us?” the gent says.  

“Yes, and that he’s convinced I’m a demon like you guys,” Jeremy answers shooting a puzzled look at the papers in front of him, “You don’t believe him, do you?” he continues looking up at the sins as they crowd on the opposite side of the table.

“Don’t know, have you been feeling a little demon-ish lately?” Michael replies speaking with a smile on his face, Jeremy taking it as a no.

“He’s been pestering you since you first met him, it has to mean _something_ \- whether or not you’re one of us,” Ryan announces picking up a book closest to Jeremy, before starting to flip pages.

“How would I even be a demon without knowing? I have two _human_ parents, and no memories of hell like you guys do,” Jeremy admits scoffing, “And wouldn’t you pick up on it like you do with my emotions?” He questions.

Ryan pausing from the book looks up at the other sins, all their eyes widening slightly before they laugh nervously, “We’ve actually really haven’t picked up anything on you since your phone incident with your ex,” Geoff tells Jeremy.

“And…. What does that mean? Does it mean I’m not human?” Asks Jeremy furrowing his brows in confusion.

“No, but-,”

“Ah, here we go!” Ryan cuts in interrupting Jack mid-sentence, the bearded sin glaring at Ryan, “Sorry Jack, but read _this_ Jeremy,” The gent tells the younger lad, sliding the book over to Jeremy.

“What is this Ry?” Gavin questions moving to look over Jeremy’s shoulder.

Ryan shrugs, “Read it- it could explain some stuff.”

Jeremy looks away from the sins and starts to read the page the book is opened too, comforted by the presence of Gavin calming reading along behind him.

Seeing Jeremy and Gavin’s eyes widen, and body tense up. The others look at Ryan, confusion evident on their faces, “What does it say? Gav? Lil’J?” speaks up Ray.

“According to this uhm, book- theirs an eighth deadly sin,” Gavin admits glancing down at Jeremy, as the younger lad read the passage over.    

“ _Despair_ ,” Spoke Geoff, turning the attention from Jeremy and Gavin to the tattooed sin.

“Theirs eight sins! Not seven?” Michael exclaims loudly throwing his hands up in the air.

“It’s a forgotten sin, people took it away because _seven_ deadly sins sounded better than _eight_ ,” Ryan says.

“ _Sins of despair can’t be born of a demon, but rather has become a sin through an **unkind** spiritual awakening of one's broken soul_ ,” Jeremy reads frowning, “ _A human can become any sin through an extremely unholy action in the name of an entity of pure evil_ ,” He continues silently reading the rest of the page, before harshly closing the book shut.

“So, you think I’m the sin of _despair_. _Great_ , glad to know I’m a huge downer,” Harshly breaths out Jeremy.

“No, of course, we don’t,” Geoff says, quite unconvincingly. Making Jeremy look up at the gent and wordlessly call him on his bullshit.

“Jeremy- It’s _very_ hard to become one of the seven, _or eight_ deadly sins, it happens through long and painful trials against the entirety of a human’s soul. It’s _so_ unlikely for anyone to become one on _accident_ ,” Jack tells Jeremy, as he goes and wraps the shorter man in his arms in a comfortable and reassuring hold.

“The old man at the post office is completely off his rocker, time does that to humans,” Gavin chimes in.

“Still not too late to go burn his shit down,” Michael says making Jeremy laugh into Jacks' arm.

“Not tonight Mikey,” Ray tells Michael, resting his head on the other lad’s shoulder.

Jeremy pulls away from Jack and looks down angrily at the book he read from. Ryan sees the younger lads glare towards the book and picks it off the table, “Sorry I brought this up, thought I’d uh- maybe help with what the what the old man’s been saying,” Ryan apologizes.

“It’s alright Rye-bread, it’s interesting- but the sins of despair sounds like one shitty thing to be,” Jeremy replies.

“Everything documented about sins is pretty untrue- sure some sins are huge crazy dick bags-, but mostly like you said, we’re _basically_ empaths, it’s kinda lame when compared to what other demons are,” Michael tells the younger lad.

“The sin of despair is less about being hopeless and miserable about everything, and more about feeling _others_ despair, dealing occasionally with your own in an alternative sense,” Geoff explains.

“Definitely one of the less aggressive kind of sins,” Jack adds.

“We’re _still_ staying you’re  not one of us,” Ryan assures.

Jeremy huffs out a laugh, “ _But_ if I was, I’d be okay…”

“Sorta- it would be some sort of hellish miracle- however, it would be pretty alright,” Ray says, reassuring Jeremy.

Geoff tiredly look over at the six others, “Now, that we’ve talked this though you think we could get some sleep?”

Jeremy looks over at the clock, reading the time to be ten minutes to midnight. Seeing the time, Jeremy suddenly feels exhausted, “Yeah, I think my bodies about to crash,” he says yawning.

“Alright that’s one- Are you fuckers really going to pass on some classic sleep,” Geoff tells the others with fake annoyance in his voice.

“Insomniac,” Ryan retorts.

“Michael challenged me to a Pokémon battle, can’t back down on that,” Ray says.

“Gav? Jack?” Jeremy asks, looking up at the two sins standing on either side of him.

“Alright, it been enough for a day,” Jack agrees.

“Come on Vav, don’t you want to watch a good ‘ole match of me destroying Michael’s ass in Pokémon,” Ray coaxes.

“More like me murdering all of Ray’s Pokémon in the first round,” Michael retorts smirking.

“Sure, not yet feeling too sleepy- Sorry Jer-bear,” Gavin agrees to the other lads before apologizing to Jeremy.

The younger lad smiles and waves off the apology, “It’s okay Gav, you’ll just have to owe me,” Jokes Jeremy, standing up and giving Gavin a peck on the cheek.

The two older gents and Jeremy say goodnight to the rest, Jeremy telling them not to fall asleep on the couch, wanting them to still join them in bed when they do decide to sleep.

The three head up the stairs, Jeremy heads back to his old room where his clothes still are stored and quickly changes. He returns to the sins and _his_ bedroom, finding the two gents already laying on the bed, a gap between them for Jeremy to lay down in.                 

“I hope you do know that the old man is probably just wanting to get rid of us, right? That you being a demon like us is _just_ a rumor,” Geoff says as Jeremy lays down with them.

“Yeah, I know,” Responds Jeremy, blinking up at Geoff.

“Good, now get some sleep Jer,” Jack softly tells the shorter man as he tugs Jeremy closer to him.

~

Jeremy falls asleep as soon as his head hits the pillow- the rest of the night goes on fine, the other lads heading to bed around one, and Ryan coming in shortly after- Jeremy doesn’t wake up when any of the other men crawl into bed, but his body subconsciously moves towards the others warmth in his sleep.

He does wake up to the loud ringing of Matt’s assigned ringtone. Jeremy groans sleepily, nestling deeper into the bed, telling himself he’ll call back Matt back later. He happily sighs when the ringing stops and tries to go back to sleep- but his phone starts ringing again, making Jeremy wish he remembered to put it on silent.   

Huffing Jeremy wriggles out of Jacks grasp on him, crawling over the others muttering a barely audible apology as he hears them mumble and whine at loss of warmth. With Jeremy movement, the sins wake up just slightly before going right back to sleep.

Groggily Jeremy picks up his phone cringing as his phones brightness momentarily blinds his tired eyes. He misses another call, then frowns when he gets another call right after.

Moving away from the bed and out the bedroom, the younger lad looks at the phone with a puzzled expression, as Matt normally wouldn’t be calling like this unless something was wrong.

He swipes and accepts the call, and hesitantly holds it up to his ear.

“ _Jeremy! Holy shit!”_ Shouts Matt sounding panicked.

“Matt buddy, calm down it’s-,” Jeremy pulls away from his phone and checks the time, “-five in the morning, what’s going on? Are you okay?” Worriedly asks Jeremy.

“ _Why are you asking **me** that? I-I should be asking if **you’re** okay!”_ Matt stammered.

Jeremy leans against the wall and tightens his grip on his phone confused at Matt’s frantic tone, “What? What are you talking about, I’m perfectly fine,” Jeremy responds.

“ _Jeremy, they were talking about you on the news- about your old manager, Jeff-.”_

Tensing up at the name of that _man_ that still haunts him, Jeremy tries to ignore the panic that’s attempting to choke him, “W-What about?” He stumbles out.

“ _He was put on trial for **years** of sexual assault charges-,”_

“Oh god,” Jeremy cries out, legs nearly collapsing underneath him as he holds the phone with two hands, as he tries to ground himself.

“ _Jeremy, they mentioned you were a lead fucking witness- he was arrested the day you got **fired** , you went to the **hospital** ,” _Matt admits rambling into the phone, tone becoming more agitated and questioning.

Jeremy ignores Matt’s words, “Please Matt, t-tell me he’s going to jail. J-Just tell me that,” Jeremy pleas, terrified that his worst fears of that _man_ being released might come true.

“ _Tell me that- that motherfucker didn’t hurt you!”_ Matt yells into the phone, making Jeremy freeze making the only thing being heard is the heavy breathing coming from both sides of the call.

“Matt, I’ll tell you e-everything- just please tell _me_ that he’s going to prison, I _need_ that Matt-.” Chokes out Jeremy letting himself slip onto the floor, his phones sides digging painfully into his hands from the strong grip.

“ _He was charged with a fine and was released…Jeremy, I’m so sorry please-.”_

Jeremy hangs up the phone and limply drops it, he looks numbly at his hands that rest in his lap- the same hands that grab his phone and chucks it against the opposite wall as it starts ringing again.

Flashbacks- vivid and awful images, flash through past his eyes like he’s casually watching a movie in a theater.

Everything feels like it’s underwater, the drowning, the cold and dark silence, it’s just _terrible_.

He laughs wetly when he sees the bedroom door quickly open, looking like the door was going to nearly get ripped off by the force used to open it. Jeremy watches as the sins pour out of the bedroom, frantically looking around before they look down at Jeremy with such softness in their eyes.

He feels terrible for making such a loud mess, feeling terrible for waking up his _boys_ for such a _stupid_ thing, terrible for probably breaking the phone they so gratuitously bought him, terrible for making the six men who he loves so much- fall in love with some broken thing like him.   

Just an absolutely _sickening_ feeling he feels- as warm, comforting and strong hands run up and down his arms, some settling just below the elbows or on his shoulder, his neck, his hair, face- It’s all so _good_ , it’s all so _gentle_ …. It’s all just too _much_.

“Jeremy, what’s going on? Where are you going!” Shouts out Ryan, making Jeremy hone in on what he’s doing.

He’s bolting down the stairs with the others closely running after him, he stops at the bottom of the stairs the others halting themselves, keeping a distance from Jeremy not wanting to set him off.

“I-I don’t know,” Jeremy mumbles his hanging his head, his body still turned away from the sins. 

“What happened? Who called you- What is it your ex? That why you threw it?” Jack gently asks trying to get Jeremy to talk about what happened.

“No,” Jeremy says quietly, feeling somebody take a hesitant step forward- like their trying to calm a wild animal.

“Okay…. Did Matt say something to you?” Questions Michael, the lad mentally running through the list of People Jeremy has contact with.

“N-No-,” Jeremy lies, tone wavering, “-I gotta go, I can’t be here with _you all_ right now,” he continues, his mind starting to kick back up again as his panic turns into anger. Soon enough all he can feel is being infuriated at what seems like nothing.

Jeremy feels himself moving past the kitchen and the living room, eventually opening the front door and quickly forcing himself out the door.

The six men call out after him, quickly rushing after the shorter man. Them finding Jeremy outside the house and climbing into his car and starting it. They run to the driver’s side of the car and pound on Jeremy window, telling the younger man to come back inside and just talk to them.

Jeremy squeezes his eyes shut and grips onto his steering wheel tightly, before rolling down the window and angrily glaring at the six sins. The younger lad not understanding why all of a sudden, he’s feeling all this rage and irritation, instead of sadness or panic- but he hates to admit that it feels _so_ good.

“What the hell Jeremy!? Come inside and we can talk about this!” Geoff says his tone stern.

Jeremy laughs a bit sinisterly, “There’s nothing to talk about _Geoff_ ,” He spats, the name holding no comfort towards him, but only bringing back bad memories of his ex-manager.

“Then at least tell us where you’re bloody going!” Gavin squawks, taken back by the younger lad’s anger towards them.     

“Back home- away from here, away from **you** shitty devils!” Jeremy shouts back defensively, his conscience screaming at him saying; ‘ _but this is your home, Jeremy! You love them, and they love you! You're screwing this up, just talk to them-,”_

“W-What?” He hears Michael say sounding slightly betrayed, it’s soft and nothing like Jeremy’s ever heard come out of the other lad’s mouth before.

“You can’t possibly mean that,” Ryan argues looking at the younger lad with such a sadness in his eyes.

He feels his guts tighten up with guilt, nearly feeling like it’s weighing him down deeper into the car seat. He turns away from the sins with a scowl on his face and sighs deeply.

“This- coming here was a mistake-,” A lie slips out before he can stop to think about what he said, “-I’m sorry,” Jeremy continues calmly as he keeps lying, his chest feeling like it’s wanting to burst open.

“Then leave-,” Ray replied shortly, the lad finally stepping in from the sidelines, “-we always knew you’d leave in one way or another,” He continues frowning heavily as he stares at Jeremy from the distance, the other lad’s eyes burning a hole in the side of Jeremy's head.

Jeremy sucks in a deep breath and rolls up the window, ignoring the way how he can still hear the sins yelling at him for him to ‘stop being such an asshole’ and ‘fucking talk to them’. He ignores how broken and pissed off the six sins looked as he drove away.

Ignores how easy it was to drive away from the men he _loves_ , he ignores the tears pricking the corners of his eyes as the anger fades away leaving nothing but sadness and fear in its wake.

But acknowledging how he _doesn’t_ have a home to go back _to_ , that he’s made a home with the other men, that being more of a home than anything he’s ever had. He acknowledges on just how _much_ he’s fucked up in just the last hour, how his break down did _nothing_ to help the aching pain of knowing that _Jeff_ won’t be getting the punishment he _deserves_.  

It takes ten minutes of driving for Jeremy to pull over on the side of the road- his tears, his mind that’s tearing itself apart and his chest feeling like it’s trying to kill him from the inside. And on top of all that, he’s alone again, scared and confused like was before all those wonderful months ago- Making it much too hard for him to focus on the road. 

It takes twenty minutes for him to figure out what to do next- he starts his car, he wipes away his tears and turns his car around, driving back towards where the town is. Thinking that hopefully that he can get a room from Lindsay, maybe work out a plan to un-fuck what he said to the sins- But to him, the last one seems entirely too impossible.

As his old life seems to be done torturing him for the time being, he’s going to at least try to fix his _new_ life.

 

 

“Jeremy, what are you doing here? Are you here just by yourself?” Lindsay asks, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes then looking past Jeremy trying to spot if the sins are around.

Jeremy drove as quickly as he could to Lindsay’s motel, feeling bad for waking her up so early in the morning without a warning- but in his argument, he would’ve sent her a text if he didn’t throw his phone into the wall.

“Do I need to kill somebody?” Lindsay questions seriously, waking up more and noticing the red eyes and dried tear tracks on the shorter man’s face.

“Nah- not anyone you’d know anyway’s,” Jeremy replies laughing quietly.

Lindsay frowns down at Jeremy, “Come on we can talk more inside,” She says to Jeremy moving aside motioning for Jeremy to go inside.

Jeremy smiles and nods at Lindsay, feeling grateful once he steps inside into the warmness. He hears Lindsay close the door, watches as she walks by him and flicks on a light.

“You want some coffee?” Lindsay offers, flipping on a light in the kitchen.

“Sure, thank you-,” Jeremy answers, “-You live here at the motel, right?” He asks Lindsay sitting down on one of the couches. 

“Yep, my grandpa when he built this place made this part of the motel ours,” Lindsay tells Jeremy, “Sugar?” She asks, earning a head shake from Jeremy.

“It’s nice,” Jeremy compliments, nervously looking around the room.

He starts zoning out as he takes in Lindsay’s house, it’s clean, simple and clearly old. However, it’s homey, cozy and comforting- It makes Jeremy miss the sins home, even though he’s only been gone for just over an hour.

“Here you go,” Lindsay says, making Jeremy snap back into reality, a cup of coffee being held out in front of his face.

“Thanks again,” Jeremy thanked taking the cup, coughing afterward when his voice cracks slightly.

“So…. What are you doing here so early? Did you get into an argument with the others?” Lindsay questions.

“Yeah um, I kinda fucked things up,” Jeremy admits, “How’d you know?”

“Eh, the others can get into some pretty big arguments- sometimes if things become too serious, someone will come here and crash for a bit, not like they really have anywhere else to go,” Lindsay tells the younger lad, sitting down in a chair opposite to him.    

“Like me,” Jeremy laughs humorlessly looking away from the red-head.

“How’d you ‘fuck things up’?- as you kindly put it,” Lindsay asks trying to coax Jeremy into talking.

Jeremy sighs sadly and leans further into the couch, covering his arms over his face, “It’s a long and shitty story Linds,” Admitted Jeremy.

“Are you going _home_ anytime soon?” Lindsay questioned looking expectantly at Jeremy.

“Not until I completely figure out what’s going on in here-,” Jeremy says pointing a finger towards his head, “-then I can start to face going _home_.”

“And I don’t have to do check-in's until noon-,” Lindsay says implying something, “-We have the time to talk Jeremy, I can tell something is seriously up with something, _besides_ whatever happened with you and the others.”

“I-If I talk to you, I’d like for you to try to stay calm until the end,” Jeremy asks of Lindsay, sitting up on the couch, looking intently at Lindsay.

“I can try my hardest, and if you don’t want to talk that’s fine- but I think I’d really help with up here,” Lindsay says as she points at his head.  

Jeremy chuckles, “I really hope so.”

“I really think it will,”

Jeremy opens his mouth and sucks in a deep breath…. then he lets everything out.

~

Retelling what happened with _Jeff_ and Jeremy all those months ago, Matt’s phone call and the court decision, and what happened between the sins and Jeremy, the shorter man says everything to Lindsay all the way up to where they’re currently are in time.

Time seemed to go in slow motion while admitting everything to Lindsay, telling the red-head more things then he’s told anybody else about what _Jeff_ did.

Lindsay did keep calm throughout Jeremy’s story, keeping her face neutral and hiding away her fisted hands behind her back. But halfway through she moved from her seat and sat next to Jeremy when realizing the younger lad’s breathing was going to fast and his speech becoming more of quiet babbling then actual words.

With the help of Lindsay’s hand rubbing his back in small comforting circles, Jeremy makes it through saying everything he needed to say with a minimal amount of tears.

Jeremy thinking that he’d probably already cried everything out earlier.

After everything was said, the time had passed by two hours. Sun already up in the sky and shining softly through the blinds. The two sit together in a comfortable quiet, Jeremy playing around with his hands as Lindsay tries to calmly digest everything that was just told to her.

Jeremy keeps glancing over at Lindsay as minutes pass, trying to get an idea of what the red-head is thinking and feeling.

“Not the best stuff to hear first thing in the morning,” Jeremy mutters, surprising a nervous laugh.

The younger lad watches as Lindsay opens and closes her mouth like a fish, as she keeps making an attempt to say something.

“I’m sorry,” Lindsay says finally settling on something.

Jeremy diverts his gaze from Lindsay’s apologetic look, “I want to say it’s fine- like I have been doing for _nearly_ nine months- I know it’s _not_ fine, everything is kinda shit. But, it’s slowly becoming okay,” Admits Jeremy.

“It sounds like everything kind of escalated to a point where you just _had_ to run,” Lindsay speculates.

“I always seem to run,” Jeremy says, “Talking about things is hard.”

“You talked to the others about how you feel, and look how well that turned out,” Argues the red-head, her tone trying to sound positive.

“It did, now look where I am-,” Jeremy retorts looking up at Lindsay, “-Back to running away from my problems, I should’ve just driven right back and explained everything,” Jeremy continues.

“You told me earlier you need to figure shit out-,” Remarks Lindsay, “-Your talking with me, you don’t look like you’re a dead man walking. I think you really needed to figure out what’s going up there,” Lindsay finishes, softly tapping a finger on Jeremy’s head.

“It’s rough, it’s so _painful_ -,” Jeremy starts, “-and I still wish every terrible thing for _Jeff_. But, somehow leaving the sins on such a bad note, saying such terrible things to them. Was _so_ much worse,” Jeremy admits.

“Talking about everything seems to be putting things into a perspective for me,” Jeremy adds looking away from Lindsay a slight smile on his face.

“Thinking your gonna go home today?” Lindsay asks smiling softly at the shorter lad.       

“Not now- but maybe later, I still have to talk to that old man at the post office,” Jeremy tells Lindsay, earning a sigh of annoyance from the red-head.

“That fucking gross old man, he’s been causing so much trouble lately-,” Lindsay admits sounding frustrated, “-Is it bad I kinda wish him to die already?” Lindsay continues.

“Nah, I’m pretty sure he’s on a lot of people death-wish list,” Jeremy assures, “I know Michaels- and some of the others- has been trying for _me_ to let _them_ burn the place down,” Jeremy adds laughing, Lindsay laughing along.

They continue to joke about the old postman and about his vendetta for the six sins, the conversation turning into Jeremy’s and the sins discovery of their being eight deadly sins.

“They think you could possibly be one of them?” Lindsay questions, looking at the shorter man with a puzzled look.

“Yeah despair, it sounds pretty awful- but they promised me it’s not,” Jeremy answers.

“Sounds like they tried to reassure you that I’d be _okay_ if you were a sin of despair,” Lindsay points out.

“But they also said that it’s just a rumor from an insane old dude,” Jeremy argues back.

“Would you be upset if you somehow were a sin of despair?” Lindsay asks, “I mean the sins are basically just bunch hermits that never age,” Lindsay continues.

“And are basically empaths,” Adds Jeremy.

“That too- But would it really be all that bad?” Lindsay repeats.

Jeremy’s smile falls slightly as he thinks more about it. He’d be a demon, no longer a human. He’d never age, watch everybody who he cares about- apart from the sins- die. He’d never have the problem of putting the sins in the terrible situation of watching him perish before their eyes, unable to help. He’d be with the sins, playing video games, watching movies, baking, playing around with dangerous weapons. Staying with the six men who he loves and who love him back, having a _home_ he could always count on, _lovers_ who hopefully would let him stay….

“No.”

“Do _you_ believe that you might be a sin of despair?” Lindsay questions Jeremy, an amused expression on her face.

“Maybe, I wouldn’t be against it,” Jeremy replies, smiling at Lindsay the red-head returning the smile.

Continuing the subject of the old postman, the two discuss what Jeremy’s going to do before going back home to the sins and hopefully having one of the last big conversations about Jeremy haunting past.

Lindsay suggests for Jeremy to go to the post office and talking to the man himself about the rumor, clearly being a thing that hasn’t quite left Jeremy’s head. Lindsay offers to be a back up for Jeremy if anything goes down. Jeremy tells her it’ll be fine, that he can take care of himself.

He’s not going to the guy picking a fight, he just wants some answers to questions that the sins seemingly are afraid of.

Mentioning the others, again and again, something clicks in Lindsay's head making her interrupt Jeremy mid-sentence.

 “The others don’t know you’re here!” Lindsay shouts, making Jeremy jump a bit.

Jeremy’s brows furrow in confusion as to why Lindsay suddenly announces so.  Then after a second his eyes widen in understanding and winces as he thinks back to the last thing he told the sins, “Shit! They think I’m driving back to where I previously lived.”

“And you can’t text them because you broke your phone….”

“ _Fuck_ …” Jeremy trails off as he mumbles into his hands.

“I’m gonna call them,” Lindsay says quickly jumping out of her seat and grabbing her phone.

“W-Wait!” Jeremy protests going after her.

“Jeremy, I’m just going to tell them your ass hasn’t ditched town. They're probably worried sick,”

Jeremy frowns as guilt stabs at his heart.

Lindsay’s eyes soften, “I’ll tell them where you’re staying at- but, I’ll _also_ tell them that you need to work some things out before coming home,” she tells Jeremy trying to create a compromise.

Jeremy’s body relaxes, and smiles gratefully at Lindsay, “Thanks, Linds,” He thanked.

“Jeremy, I care about _you_ and much as I do the other- and for knowing them as long as I have, I know that whatever anger they had towards you is _long_ gone, and worry has turned them all into the biggest moms you’ll ever meet,” Lindsay admits, laughing at the end.

Jeremy chuckles at Lindsay’s comment, his worry of the other six men being mad at him slightly lessening. The younger lad watches as Lindsay open her phone, making Jeremy’s anxiety spike.

“Could you call them once I leave?” Jeremy asks.

Hovering her thumb above the call button, Lindsay looks over at Jeremy, “The earlier I call them, the less their gonna freak out about me harboring you in silence.”

“I’m gonna head over to the post office right now, so don’t worry,” Jeremy replies, glancing at her phone then back to Lindsay’s eyes.

Lindsay huffs slightly as waves off Jeremy with her other hand, “Sure, want me to tell them where you’re going?” Lindsay asks feeling like she already knows the answer.

Jeremy shakes his head, shyly smiling as Lindsay just rolls her eyes before cracking a smile, “Thanks, Linds, you’re the best,” Jeremy tells Lindsay.

“Whatever, stay safe and keep your distance with the creepy old man!” Lindsay calls out as Jeremy rushes out of the house.

She presses call as soon as she hears Jeremy’s car speed off, sighing and smiling as the phone rings.

“Hi, Geoff.”

 

 

Jeremy rests his head against the steering wheel, peeling leather uncomfortably rubbing at his skin. He’s been sitting in the parking lot of the post office for the last fifteen minutes, trying to build up the nerve of actually going inside and confronting the ancient man. Him saying what he was going to do is easier said than done.

Talking with Lindsay, he was building up the picture in his brain of going inside, ignoring whatever shit the old man starts to spew and ask some questions, not leaving the place until he gets some useful answers. But instead he’s sitting in his car, face planted into the steering wheel, a little afraid of going inside knowing he doesn’t have of the sins or _Lindsay_ with him as a backup like he normally does.

He jumps and hits his head on the top of his car as something loudly taps at his window, Jeremy rubs his head and turns to see what scared him.

Jeremy squints out the window then freezing when the familiar very wrinkly and permanently scowling face of the old postman stares right at him.

The old man taps on the window again with what Jeremy recognizes as a cane. He hears the ancient man mumble something ineligible but rough sounding.

Jeremy stares confusingly at the old man as he just stares back at Jeremy with what can only look like a disappointed expression.

“What are you doing here boy, where're the other devils of yours?” Grumbles the ancient man, pressing his face close to the window.

Jeremy unbuckles his seatbelt and moves away into the passenger seat, “I-It’s just me today,” Jeremy tells the old man, opening the passenger side door and exiting the car.     

He hears the old man’s cane clack as Jeremy watches the ancient man hobble over to him, Jeremy suppressing a laugh when he realizes how quick he is compared to the old man.

“You got a letter- Or are you wanting something else today?” Questions the ancient man, pointing a shaky finger at Jeremy.

“I have some questions about the shit you’ve been telling people around town,” Jeremy answers taking a step back from the old man.

Jeremy watches as the old man stares at him, seemingly studying him. The ancient man sighs and turns away from Jeremy, “Come along,” Says the old man motioning for Jeremy to follow him back into the post office.

Staring for a moment at the back of ancient man head with distrust, Jeremy hesitantly follows the old man into the post office.

Entering the post office, Jeremy stays close to the door as the old man continues to hobble to the register. Jeremy’s eyes follow as the ancient man leans puts his cane on the counter, then following as the old man stretches his back and walks the rest of the way, not a limp in sight.

Jeremy keeps a hand on the door's knob, becoming unsettled of the old man’s behavior.

“Turn the sigh to closed, don’t want no humans interrupting out little chit-chat,” Says the old man, heading further into the back of the shop.

Jeremy frowns at the old man’s words but does as the other man says, he turns away and flips the sign from open to closed. Turning back around he’s met with the old man, an inch away from his face, the old man’s height being almost exactly Jeremy’s own height.     

“Perfect,” announces the ancient man, backing away from Jeremy and returning to the register before leaning on it with his elbows, the old man’s stance reminding Jeremy one of a teenager rather than an over sixty-some old man.

“Come over here, I don’t bite,” Says the old man, baring his perfectly straight and white teeth.

Becoming even more and more put off and intrigued by the ancient man, Jeremy listens to the ancient man and slowly moves forwards the register.

The ancient man grin grows larger as Jeremy walks closer, then closing his mouth letting out a pleased hum when Jeremy’s reaches the counter, “Let me guess, you're here to ask about the eighth sin?”

Jeremy’s surprised, but he doesn’t let it show, keeping a neutral expression, “Close, but I already know about the eighth sin,” Jeremy tells the old man.

“Hmmm, what exactly do you want from me?” Asks the ancient man.

Taking a deep breath, Jeremy thinks it’s better to just say I then dance along with whatever the old man is trying to play, “Am I the sin of despair?”

“Yes,” Simply says the ancient man.

“And I’m just to leave and take your word?” Jeremy questions, trying to think from a different view. 

The ancient man crosses his arms, “I take you still question about who exactly I am?”

“Do you want me to just ask who you are?” Jeremy asks, becoming fed up with the old man.

“Sure.”

“Well, then _who_ exactly are you?” Jeremy asks.

“An old man who runs a post office,” Smirks the old man, his laughter coming out as a loud cackle.

Jeremy huffs at the old man’s antics, kind of wishing for the _angry_ dick- who’s been taking his letters- rather than this _annoying_ dick. Jeremy remembers the way how the old man talked about humans like a different species, and how quickly his back was set, his perfect white teeth that are nothing like what an ancient man should have.

“ _What_ are you?” Jeremy asks, inching away from the register as the old man’s cackling gets louder.

“Good question,” Compliments the old man, moves away from the counter and getting closer to Jeremy.

“I’m a witch,” The old man admits.

Jeremy's eyes widen at the old man's confession, “I-I…. Fuck, _really_?”

The ancient man chuckles at Jeremy, “Seems your devil boys didn’t tell you about other creatures?”

“No, but I guess if demons are real, other things must exist too,” Jeremy says.

“Not much- most things humans made up for wealth,” The ancient man tells Jeremy.

“So, when you said yes-,”

“I sensed something was off about you when you first arrived into my little shop,” Interrupts the ancient man, “Took a couple of visits to understand precisely _what_ you are,” Continues the old man walking behind Jeremy.

Jeremy swallows back his shock, “What exactly am I if you kept telling me that I was a human every visit?” Jeremy asks the old man, turning around and facing the man.

“Half-human, I kept telling you _half_ -human.”

“And the other half is a demon?” Questions Jeremy, becoming more confused.

“Yes,” Says the ancient man.

“How long?” interrogates Jeremy.

“Nine months,”

“I was the sin of despair before coming here?” Jeremy asks.

“Somewhat- when a human becomes a sin the soul goes through harsh trials of unfair treatment, when _your_ soul underwent the process the transformation stopped halfway from being complete- now you’re a demon half-human,” The old man teaches Jeremy.

“What stopped it?” Jeremy questions digesting the ancient man’s words.

“No clue, happens a lot through- many humans undergo the process of becoming a deadly sin, but many end just as it barely starts, it’s hard for a humans’ soul to go through the process without nearly dying in the process,” replies the old man. 

“I think it stopped due to your lover boys- you found the rest of your ‘flock’ way faster then you should have,” The ancient man continues.

Jeremy takes everything in, but still has some questions left to get answered, “Whatever the fuck I am what does it mean in the long run?”

The old man stays silent for a moment and returns to the counter, “I’ll be expecting to see you for many, many years- maybe you’ll even pass me in age,” Cryptically answers the old man.

“Why are you answering all my questions, when you barely let me or the other sins get a single word out,” Jeremy asks.

“Your interesting,” admits the ancient man with a smirk on his face that looks slightly all too sincerer.   

“Now you should leave,” continues the old man snapping his fingers making the door open, “See you in a couple weeks, Jeremy,” Says the old man.

Jeremy looks in slight awe at the door swing open and backs away from the counter heading towards the door.

“You can tell your little devil boys about me, it’ll be fun little game to play!” Shouts out the old man, making Jeremy turn back in the door frame to watch at the ancient man waves in goodbye.

Feeling a force push him out the rest of the way and the door slamming shut, Jeremy blinks in shock as the closed sign turns to open.

Shaking his head in confusion and feeling proud for how good that went, then as he’s getting into his car it hits him like a brick.

“I’m a fucking deadly sin,” He says to only himself.

“Holy shit,” He whispers laughs under his breath, as he quickly pulls out of the parking lot. Excitedly driving back over to Lindsay’s motel to tell her what he learned.

 

 

Arriving back to the hotel, Jeremy notices that Lindsay’s lingering around outside. Pulling up he watches as she walks back and forth in front of her house looking rather frazzled, still no spotting Jeremy until he closes his door.

Lindsay snaps out of whatever she was in and walks up to Jeremy, meeting him half-way as he walks up to red-head.

Jeremy looks up at Lindsay a puzzled and worried expression on his face, “Lindsay what’s going-.”

“Your boyfriends are inside my house,” Lindsay tells the shorter lad.

Jeremy looks past Lindsay and suddenly spots the sins car parked right in front of her house, “What, when did they get here?” Asks Jeremy looking up at Lindsay, slightly panicking as he realizes he’s not a hundred percent ready to talk to them again.

“When I called them they apparently drove straight here- I told them you weren’t quite ready to go home, the idiots thought you didn’t want to go back to the house yet, not getting the part where you didn’t want to see _them_ yet,” Lindsay admits.

“You didn’t actually say that I didn’t want to see them, right?” Jeremy questions, hoping she really didn’t say that.

“No, of course not! Have a little faith in me Jeremy,” Lindsay assures.

“I do, I do- but what are you doing outside? Did they kick you out of your own house?” Jeremy asks.

Lindsay chuckles while looking away from the younger lad, “I guess you said they kinda did? They asked about where you were when they couldn’t find you-,” she says, “-They looked so panicked when they didn’t see you here. They really thought I was doing a bit, and you really _did_ leave,” Lindsay continues looking Jeremy strait in the eyes.

Jeremy holds eyes contact with Lindsay before looking away, “I almost did _leave_ , but I-I just _couldn’t_ this time,” Jeremy says.

“They’re just chilling in my living room- I didn’t tell them where you went, just said you’d be back when you’d be back,” Lindsay tells Jeremy, “If you want we can just chat here for a bit until your ready to talk with them,” She continues softly.

Looking at Lindsay front door, he shutters as a dreading feeling enters his brain, Lindsay’s offer sounding very good for the meantime, “Sure, and do I have a lot to say,” Jeremy says giddily remembering what he learned from the old postman.

Jeremy sits down with Lindsay the two leaning against his car, Lindsay smiles over at Jeremy existed to hear what Jeremy got from the old man, “Oh yeah? Is it some good juicy stuff?”

“Linds you have no fucking idea,” Chuckles Jeremy.

Lindsay motions for Jeremy to keep going, “First off- old post dude, he’s a witch,” Jeremy admits.

“No shit really?” Lindsay scoffs earning a serious look from Jeremy, “Really!? How’d you figure that out?” She asks.

“He straight up told me, he’s crazy and old, but he’s for real.”

“Fucking spooky, what else did he tell you?” Lindsay questions.

Jeremy laughs as he leads Lindsay on, her wordlessly telling him to get on with it, “I’m a fucking deadly sin Linds,” Jeremy tells Lindsay, the red-head eyes widening in shock before furrowing her brows furrowing into an expression of concern.

“Are you really sure? I mean the dude could’ve just lied about everything,” Lindsay worriedly says.

Jeremy halts, the thought of the ancient man lying to him never crossing his mind, “Shit,” he simply says his heart sinking.

“How would you even know? The guys were born from hell into the role, they knew it from the very beginning,” Lindsay asks, “Do you feel any different?”

“No- I don’t know, maybe….” Jeremy awkwardly trails off, staring down at the asphalt.

Lindsay sighs and wraps an arm around Jeremy’s shoulders, “Sin or human, your boys and _me_ love you no matter what,” she says trying to comfort the shorter man.

“You think I should tell the others about what the old man told me?” Jeremy asks.

“Yeah, but don’t start with it- maybe save it for the end,” Lindsay replies, “You gonna go talk to them?”

“Soon,” Jeremy says then looks over to Jeremy a small smile on his face, “It’s gonna suck,” Jeremy continues making Lindsay laugh and hum in response.

“Only if you think it will.”

“Do want us to drive home and talk about it? I don’t think any of us will feel to go for taking up your space,” Questions Jeremy, offering for them to leave.

“Nah, you can use my house for your little heart to heart session,” Lindsay tells Jeremy, “I’m just gonna be setting up some room, so I’ll be out of your guy’s way.”

“I’m going to tell them everything,” Jeremy says after a moments silence.

“If you’re comfortable with that.”

“I think I am-,” Jeremy says getting up off the ground, as he helps up Lindsay, “I’m gonna go talk to them now,” He tells Lindsay.

Lindsay pats him on the back before pulling him into a hug, “Wish you luck, but I don’t think you really need it,” she says.

Jeremy hugs Lindsay back, nodding in response before pulling back and taking a deep breath before walking to the front door.

Stepping up the door, Jeremy thought he's never found a door this intimidating. Raising a hand, he knocks on the door, then immediately questions himself on why he knocked in the first place. But before he could berate himself anymore the familiar, yet tired face of Ryan opens the door.

He chokes on what feels like his own breath, watching Ryan’s face light up at the sight of him, Jeremy looks past the gent finding the rest of his boyfriends all staring at the front door.

Ryan moves aside- just like Lindsay did a few hours earlier- and lets Jeremy pass him and enter the house, feeling weird seeing all the sins lounging around a living room that isn’t theirs.

Jeremy kind of wants to laugh, or maybe cry, he doesn’t exactly know what he’s feeling when he sees all the sins relief and hope in their eyes.

Ryan closes the door after apologetically waving at Lindsay, Jeremy sits down keeping a slight distance from the sins- knowing that if he got any closer he’s probably crack, then he wouldn’t get anything out.

He sits, the sins sit, they all sit in silence until someone decides to speak up.

~

Surprisingly it’s Ray that ends the silence.

“We thought you left us completely,” Speaks up the hoodied lad, maintaining a direct eye contact with the younger lad, “I thought _I_ made you leave us.” 

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said any of that,” Jeremy apologizes, somehow keeping his voice strong.

“We should say we're sorry too,” Geoff says, making Jeremy’s head look over at the gent so fast that the younger lad probably pulled a muscle. 

Feeling his mouth go dry, Jeremy looks at the tattooed sin then at the other a pure look of confusion on his face, “W-What why, you didn’t do anything,” Jeremy argues.

“Yes, we did- you were panicking, and we set you off you ran away, it was purely instincts for you to try and get away,” Ryan says, his and the other sins looking at Jeremy with guilty expressions.

Jeremy thinks back on what Ryan was talking about, sure they spooked him, but they didn’t start the attack, it was on _Jeff_ , not _them_. They tried to help him out and he freaked out, he was the one who ran, the sins thought _they_ had hurt Jeremy.

“You guys are idiots if you think you did anything wrong-,” Jeremy holds up his hand to silence Michael as the other lad opens his mouth, “-Sure I was having some sort of breakdown, and touching might’ve not been the best thing. But, _you_ didn’t cause it happen in the first place,” He continues, the six sins looking at him like he was crazy.

Jeremy blows out a big breath, “I got a call from Matt- it was something important about my _ex-manager_ \- Matt was frantic and angry…. H-He gave me some really, _really_ shitty news,” Jeremy says trying to laugh it off, but the laugh coming out more choked and weak.

“You don’t have to tell us right now if you don’t want too,” Jack says, ever the negotiator.      

“I _need_ to, I-It’s been haunting me ever since I came here,” Jeremy tells them.

“C-Could we come closer to you Lil’J?” Gavin asks Jeremy, the brits tone hesitant.

Jeremy body immediately says no- but thinks back how to when he told Lindsay, she sat next to him and rubbed his back the entire time in the attempt to calm him, it worked pretty well.

“Yeah- It’d help,” Jeremy agrees, and the sins quickly move from where they were and sit around the shorter man, each man touching a part of him.

Jeremy takes a deep shaky breath and relaxes into his lovers calming touch, “The day I left was the worse of my life. I came home from my shit job to find out that I was being evicted from my shit apartment, the landlord screaming at me to leave, barely letting me go back inside to grab what little possessions I own-,” He takes another deep breath.

“-Called _Kate_ to see if I could spend the night at her house, she already blocked my number when I called, had another man in her bed. Told me that I was a pathetic person who wasn’t a real man, that I’d never get another girlfriend or _boyfriend_ -,” Jeremy says laughing ironically as the hold his _six boyfriends_ have on him tightens on him in a comforting manner, the six sins surprisingly staying quiet.

“-Broke _that_ phone- I really have a thing for breaking phones I guess- then drove over to Matt’s apartment, drank nearly his entire liquor cabinet during the weekend. Then went to work that Monday like nothing was wrong, except for a terrible hangover. - don’t think I never told you where I worked but it was a shit fast-food place.” Jeremy tells the sins slightly rambling as his heart races, trying to prolong telling the others the worse part of that day.

The six sins hum at Jeremy knowing the younger lad is rambling, but they let Jeremy tell his story at his own speed, not wanting to rush anything and push the shorter man too far.

Jeremy tries to calm his own racing heart by grabbing onto Jacks nearby hand, the gents hand feeling sturdy in his grasp, “The day goes on, customers get more and crazier as the day continues, it’s terrible the fast-food industry. S-Something goes wrong with an old lady and her order, line gets too long, people start yelling, it’s a mess. Then my _manager_ comes out and fixes the whole thing, the customers are happy and I’m in trouble-,” Jeremy swallows a lump in his throat, thinking to when he told Lindsay how _easy_ it was, this time feeling like it’s ripping him apart from the inside out.

“-He calls me into his office, _Jeff_ not _sir_ he tells me to call him-,” Jeremy feels Geoff flinch as the ferocity that Jeremy says _Jeff’s_ name, “-Asks me what happened, I told him the truth- he didn’t really like the truth- he got pissed I got fired, yelled at him told him said his dick was small and _tried_ to leave,” Jeremy says in a near whine, stopping when a full body tremor hits him.

“I _really_ tried, I did, but he s-slammed me into the door, said I used _‘fighting words_ ’ w-whatever the fuck that means. Said something about my co-workers s-sucking his dick for the job, the fuck had some f-fantasies about m-me. I-I just- he cornered me, I froze, I-I couldn’t fucking _move_ -,” Jeremy exhales heavily, his throat feeling like it’s closing in on him. He feels the others start to pull away, and aggressively drags them back, needing something to ground him to reality.

“-Had me down on my knees, I-I- my mind blanked out- next thing I k-know, _Jeff’s_ crying on the floor with barely any dick left. I ran out, passed out in front of a co-worker then woke up in the hospital,” Jeremy finishes quickly, air rushing out of him like he was just punched in the stomach.

Feeling the six sins silently wrap the shorter man closer to them, Jeremy swears he can feel the suppressed rage radiating off his lovers, it slightly scaring and oddly comforting him.

“Please fucking tell me this fuck face is in prison,” Geoff nearly growls, making Jeremy second the comfort then remembering that ‘ _no, that fuck face **isn’t**_ _in prison’_.                

“Guess what the news was,” Jeremy mutters bitterly.

“ _No,_ ” Ryan says his tone laced with a calm rage.

“So that asshole was just set free? No jail time or anything?” Ray angrily questions, earning a solemn look from Jeremy.

“He was fined- didn’t really get much else from Matt before throwing my phone,” Jeremy tells them, “Sorry about breaking my phone, I-I didn’t really mean to do it,” Adds the younger lad.

Michael sighs, “It was a reasonable thing to do, hell right now I wanna hunt down and kill that motherfucker who _touched_ you,” Growls out the lad.

“I think we’d all like to very much bloody do that,” Gavin says, the other sins all nodding in agreement.

Shaking his head with a weak smile on his face, Jeremy wordlessly persuades the other men that idea is not the best one he’s heard, “Trust me, I’d pay top dollar for that show, but it’s still not going to erase all the shit he’s done.”

Jeremy exhales as he makes the decision of untangling himself from the others and getting off the couch, swaying slightly before standing up in front of the sins, “Life’s kinda shit, _my_ life could’ve been better. All _this_ didn’t have to happen-,” says the shorter man motioning to him and the other men, “-I could’ve stayed back where I was, could’ve slept in my car until getting enough money and renting another apartment. Could’ve started over, drink away the memories, push everything away only to crash down on me like everything else does,” Jeremy continues.

“But you didn’t- you left and drove to Austin for some mysterious fucking reason,” Michael says.

“You met us- although our first impression was to nearly pummel you,” Gavin admits.

“You didn’t run when we told you who we are- still not completely convinced your human,” Chuckles Ryan.

“You somehow fixed the entire house just by yourself- sometimes with the help from us,” Jack chimed.

“You managed to teach _all_ of us the basics of baking- even though some of us didn’t really care all that much in the beginning,” Ray admits.

“You in a matter of six months got six demons to fall in love with you- but to be honest I think we all kinda wanted you from the very first night,” Announces Geoff.

With his mouth slightly hanging open, Jeremy stares at the six other men, taken back by the sins summarization of his living with them.

“Even with all the things you could’ve done, you _didn’t_ \- hopefully being with us has been better than anything else your life could’ve shitted upon you,” Geoff adds, getting up off the couch and rubbing Jeremy’s arms up and down.

Jeremy lets himself get pulled into the gent’s arms, wrapping his arms around Geoff in response, “I’ve _could’ve_ seen better days, but being in the middle of butt-fuck nowhere with you all has been pretty great too,” Jokes the shorter lad, feeling a laugh erupt from the sin’s chest.

“You sure right about the butt-fuck part Jer,” Jeremy hears Ray say.

Jeremy laughs into Geoff’s chest, noticing that the gent and the other sins are laughing along. Jeremy hears the others get off the couch and feels as they all join in on the hug.

“I’m so fucking glad I came here and met you all,” Jeremy admits.

“We're glad you came into our lives to Lil’J,” Gavin mumbles into Jeremy’s neck.

Continuing to hug, until they break apart as they hear a loud knocking at the door and Lindsay yell something from behind the door.

Jeremy moves away from the other men and opens the door for Lindsay, “If you seven of you are done touching dicks I’d like to have my house-,” Shouts Lindsay, stopping as she sees Jeremy standing in front of the open door.

Lindsay puts down her hand as she was going to knock again, “Jeremy! Have you guys made up?” She asks, shyly smiling.

“Yep.”

Lindsay smiles, “Great,” She says as she barges past Jeremy into her house.

“I have a family of six needing two rooms, and I _still_ don’t have anything set up,” Lindsay tells the seven men, moving around quickly around the house.

Jeremy glances over at the sins, the sins glancing over at him, “Do, you want us to leave?” Jeremy asks Lindsay.

“You’d be helping out big time, you can update me on what went down later- but for now I need to start opening this place up,” Lindsay admits, pausing to look apologetically at the men.

“Yeah, no problem, Linds thanks for letting us use your house,” Thanked Michael, the six sins moving to where the younger lad stands at the door.

“Glad to help!” Lindsay calls out as she leaves the living room into somewhere deeper into the house.

The sins leave without a further goodbye, Jack closing the door as he’s the last out. The seven men just look at each other for a moment before feeling the gaze of somebody behind them, turning around they see exactly what Lindsay was complaining about, theirs a family of six sitting on a bench outside the motel's office looking mildly afraid of what’s going on.

Ryan smiles at the family and waves kinda awkwardly, as the other men slowly shuffle closer to their car. Moving away and no longer feeling the gaze of the family, the seven men burst out giggling.

“Is Lindsay one of those people who gets really into working?” Jeremy asks the sins.

“You could say that she’s really passionate about doing good to other people,” Jack tells Jeremy.

Jeremy looks around at the sins car, a question forming in his head as he looks up at the sins with a questioning expression, “How did you call fit into here?” He asks.

“Just like we used too, by making one of the lads sit on someone’s lap,” Geoff says with a smirk.

“It’s not all that comfortable, but it works I guess,” Ryan adds.

“Barely- next time _you_ have Gavin’s bony ass sit on you,” Michael argues, making Gavin protest with one of his various noises.

“Don’t have to now, that Jeremy’s staying for _good_ ,” Ryan retorts, making the shorter lad tense up slightly, thinking back to what the old postman told him.

Jack watches as the younger lad stiffen up, “You are staying with us, right?” asks the bearded gent.               

“Yeah totally! But don’t know if I can _forever_ ,” Jeremy answers, his gaze falling to the ground.

It takes a moment for the shorter man’s words to make sense to them, the sins all looking at each other with a sudden realization before sadly smiling, “Jeremy, if you’re worried about getting older-,”

“I’m not really- just…. I went to the post office earlier today,” Jeremy admits, looking up at the other men.

“Wot! By yourself?” Gavin squawks.

Jeremy nods, “I had to ask the dude about being what the rumors were all about,” says the younger lad, leaning against the car.

“And… What did he tell you?” Geoff asks.

“That I _am_ in fact a deadly sin of despair,” Answers Jeremy, “Also he’s a witch or something, I saw him do some pretty freaky shit. So, I’m not doubting him on that,” he continues.

The six sins stare at Jeremy in shock, “And he just told all this to you?” Gawks Ray.

“Yeah? I took the dudes word, but he might be lying-,”

“No, he’s not,” Interrupts Ryan.

“Look, Jeremy, we’ve kinda been suspecting you being one of us for a little while. But we didn’t want to say anything to- I don’t know kinda protect you?” Geoff tells Jeremy.

“We sorta lied when we said we haven’t picked up on your emotions- sure, how we felt them _differently_ after the phone incident, they were pretty much fucking nothing- But it was not like what we felt in the first couple weeks of knowing you,” Says Michael.

“You _knew_ I was one of you?” Jeremy questions not quite glaring at the six men.

“Not fully, we just got a different energy coming off you- like your aura or something just swapped,” Gavin rephrases.

“You let off the same kind of energy we give off to one another,” Explains Jack.

Jeremy looks at the sins with a puzzled expression, “You told me that it was _just_ a rumor- that’s it’s nearly _impossible…._ ” Trails off the shorter man. 

“W-We didn’t want the idea of being one of us freak you out- also we didn’t really want to get our hopes up,” Admits Ryan.

“And you guys completely think what the old postman said is true?” Jeremy asks.

“Well the mans a fucking witch he _knows_ his shit, and he was the one to outted us as being demons in the first place,” Michael says.

“So, a solid ‘yes’ from the old dude is enough to fully convince you that I’m that I’m a sin like you guys,” Presses Jeremy.

“That and the bond you have with us,” Admits Geoff, making Jeremy look up at the gent.

“What?”

“When _one_ of each sin get together, they form a bond just between _those_ seven demons,” Geoff continues as he sighs.

“It’s the fixing point to where- like a pack of wolves’ bond with one another, they stay together until they die or get shunned- our bond is similar, once you get a complete set of sins their together till the end,” Ryan explains, trying to make the younger lad understand.

“I get that, but what does your guy’s bond have to do with me maybe or maybe not being like you six?” Jeremy questions.

“Jeremy, you nob you’ve bonded in _our_ bond!” Gavin exclaims.

“Alright, how’d you figure that out?” Asks the younger lad taken back by the brit.

“When you left we felt our bond become stressed like it was trying to rip itself apart- and all six of us where here, _you_ were the only one missing- We all felt like our chests were being torn apart, did you feel anything like that Jeremy?” Jack admits, watching as the realization dawns on the younger lads’ face as Jeremy clutches at his chest at the memory.

“Yeah, I did- w-when I was diving away I thought I was dying,” Jeremy says puffing out a breath before looking up at the other sins with a hopeful look in his eyes.

“We think the bond was another reason why you drove to Austin without any clue as to why, the _need_ to finish the complete set of deadly sins,” Geoff adds.

“I’m one of you, aren’t I?” Jeremy sniffs grinning largely as his tongue sticks out a bit.

“You sure are Lil’J,” Ray tells Jeremy, the six sins returning the shorter man’s grin.

Jeremy continues to look at the sins like he’s just one the lottery, the moment crashing once Lindsay’s front door slams shut, making the seven men jump slightly.

Lindsay spots the seven-sins staring at her with a bemused expression, Lindsay huffs and turns away from the sins and waving at the family of six, the family waving back looking like they already regret staying at the motel.

Lindsay spins back around towards the sins, her red hair flying after her, “Why the fuck are you all still here? Go home and go sleep or something, your zombie-like appearances are scaring off my guests,” Lindsay orders, “Also call me tonight at a _reasonable_ time, some people have jobs to wake up too,” She tells them, smiling as she shoos them away.

The sins laugh and split up as Jeremy drives his car back with Jack and Gavin, and Ray. Geoff driving the other two back.

Back to where Jeremy could never stay away for too long, back with his lovers, back _home._

* * *

 

 

With the final wall collapsing everything starts to build back up again, the wall slowly but unquestionably goes back into place.

Weak walls no longer weak.

Life, it keeps happening for Jeremy. The happiness, the love, the feeling of control that he’d been lacking for years.

 _Life_ just keeps going, going and _going_ …. 

However, the good never ends, the bad- sometimes the _worst_ \- still happens time to time. Yet, everything stands strong, life ready to keep going.

The past _does_ catch up with Jeremy again, but for the _last time_.

Jeremy later reconnects with Matt, the two apologize to each other about the phone call. Matt happy to inform Jeremy that _Jeff_ was re-indicted due to newly found evidence, that his ex-manager was sentenced to prison for ten years.

The six sins comfort Jeremy as the shorter man cries in relief, Matt’s own sniffling being heard from the other side of the call.

They _all_ end up talking to Matt, Jeremy nearly ending the call when the other sins ask embarrassing questions about the younger lad. Putting the call on speaker phone, the seven men were able to talk to Matt like he was there along with them. By the end of the call the sins admitted to being more than just friends, a silence occurs before Matt chuckles into the phone's speaker and give them his blessing.                   

Call then ending far late into the night, Jeremy putting down his phone before attacking his boyfriends, the rest of the night being spent in the bedroom.

Since Jeremy’s near running away, the seven men’s relationship has grown stronger. Any relationship for Jeremy never seemed to be the _thing_ for him, either it was awkward like when he dated Matt, or it was toxic and terrible like dating Kate. So, when it’s time for the seven men to hit their first major milestone as being together, it hits Jeremy that he’s always thought I’d impossible for such a _good_ , healthy _thing_ to ever happen to him.

 _Especially_ not with six of some of the best men Jeremy’s ever had the pleasure to be with.

Life seems like it’s nearly picture perfect…. But with the house basically being completely fixed up, and the letters getting harder and harder to fake. Jeremy’s sees the nervousness in his lover's eyes each time they get a letter from Ms. Burns, each letter sounding more and more stressed as months go by.

It pains Jeremy seeing the other men worry so much with every passing day, anxious the house might be taken from them. Their home the place they’ve been for so long, where memories wander around free, the place that rightfully belongs to the sins but _doesn’t_.

Not until Jeremy makes a decision, carefully crawling out of bed and grabbing his phone, his plan to persuade Ms. Burns- getting her number from her nephew the day before- in seeing if she’ll sell the house to him under the table.

He quietly pacing back in forth as he internally recites what he’s going to say when the phone stops ringing, he ignores the anxious thoughts of him possibly making everything worse with the call, trying to hype himself up and say what he needs to say and hopefully not fuck up everything in the process.

“ _Hello, who is this?_ ” Questions an older sounding woman, making what confidence Jeremy had quickly vanish.

“ _If this is another prank caller I’m gonna hang up-,_ ”

“No!-” Jeremy slightly shouts, before clearing his throat, “Sorry no, t-this isn’t a prank caller- I’m Jeremy Dooley the guy who's fixing up your father’s house?” Greets Jeremy his voice cracking.

“ _Mr. Dooley, do you have any idea on how late it is,_ ” Retorts Ms. Burns scoffing slightly.

Jeremy sighs and sits down on the edge of the couch, “I-I know I’m sorry, I was kinda caught up in the moment when I called you,” Apologizes the shorter man.

He hears a tired sigh, “ _It’s alright Dooley,_ ” Ms. Burns says surprisingly softly, “ _How did you get my number?_ ”

“Uh, I asked your nephew for it,” Jeremy admits.

“ _You could’ve just asked me in a letter for it,_ ” Ms. Burns tells Jeremy.

“It would’ve taken too long.”

“ _Too long? Are you planning a trip or something?_ ” She asks Jeremy, sounding slightly panicked at the thought.  

“No of course not- Just I needed to ask you something, and I thought talking to you over the phone would make it sound I don’t know, more professional?” Jeremy backtracks.

“ _Are you sure you’re not quitting on me?_ ” Ms. Burns tone being more joking and light rather then what Jeremy has been picturing with reading the letters. 

“I couldn’t if I wanted to, you could say the house has kind of become my home,” Jeremy tells Ms. Burns earning an unsurprised hum.    

“ _From your letters, I think you’ve become quite enamored with the house_,” Replies Ms. Burns her not sounding anything like Jeremy was expecting.

Jeremy nervously chuckles thinking about the six men who are sleeping half-naked upstairs, “You could say that.”

“ _What is this call about Jeremy? Certainly, it’s not to just chat with your employer,_ ” Politely asks Ms. Burns.

The shorter man’s throat goes dry, suddenly remembering the entire reason for calling her in the first place, “Miss, I’ve been thinking about buying this house from your family- It’s been just over a year since I’ve been working and living here- like you said I’ve fallen in love with it,” Jeremy admits.

“ _Jeremy, w-we can’t sell the house, my entire family would lose all of our money,_ ” Sadly sighs Ms. Burns.

He ignores the stab of doubt, “I know- your nephew told me about the will, and about your family fearing the house- but I could buy it from you under the table, no paperwork just word. And I have enough money saved to buy the house, plus extra,” Jeremy clarifies waving his hands around even though he knows Ms. Burns can’t see him.

Jeremy waits in silence for a response, no noises coming from either ends of the call making the shorter lad if he accidentally hung up. Seeing the call still going he huffs and holds the phone back to his ear.

“I know your nephew owns the house- but he’s clearly afraid of ever coming here- if you accept my offer I’d only need the deed from your nephew,” Jeremy continues trying to get Ms. Burns to at least say _something_ in return.

Finally, Jeremy hears a tired sigh come from the other line, “ _I have the deed-my nephew gave it me right after receiving it- I wanted him to find someone to hire, he did and that was you,_” Admits Ms. Burns.

“ _You’ve worked so hard on the house, you stayed in contact with every month- I apologize for being a bitch in my letters, I don’t have a lot of time to sit down and write-,_ ” Ms. Burns apologizes.

“ _-You’ve worked probably harder than any of my nieces or nephews have ever worked, I really think if my father was alive he would’ve loved to meet you,_ ” Confesses Ms. Burns her own voice cracking slightly towards the end.

“That’s a lot to tell a guy you pay for watching over a house,” Jeremy ties to joke as his tone betrays him as he takes Ms. Burns words to the heart.

“ _If you can absolutely promise me that my family won’t lose out money and that you’ll give only half the money to my nephew- Then I will take your deal,_” Ms. Burns says, Jeremy hearing a smile growing on her face.

“I can promise you that,” Jeremy promises feeling like he could start crying at Ms. Burns words.

“ _Then Mr. Dooley, you’ve just bought a house- hope this doesn’t mean you’ll stop writing letters to me, they kind of became the highlight of my month,_ ” Announces Ms. Burns, chuckling.

“Totally, I-I can’t believe it thank you so much, Ms. Burns,,” Jeremy thanks, his body trembling with excitement.

“ _No problems Jeremy, tell Geoff and the others I said hello,_ ” Quickly says Ms. Burns as she hangs up, making the younger lad look at his phone in shock before largely grinning.

  Getting off the couch he plans to return to bed and tell the others the news tomorrow, but as he turns around he sees the six men standing a bit away from the couch, grins even larger then Jeremy’s and eyes looking a little misty.

Jeremy’s mind blanks slightly at the sight of his lovers, everything coming back at full force as he nearly topples the other men over as he runs over to them.

“I just bought the fucking house,” Jeremy bursts out.

“We heard,” Laughs Ryan.

“We own this place now, it’s _ours_ ,” Rephrases Jeremy still not believing it.

The other men chuckle at Jeremy’s enthusiasm as they wrap the shorter man into a hug, “We know, and you were the one who did it,” Jack says pressing a kiss to the top of Jeremy’s head.

Jeremy laughs as he melts into his lovers, “You aren’t celebrating like I am.”

“That’s because it’s nearly three in the morning- tell us again in the morning,” Says Ray yawning causing a chain reaction.

Jeremy yawns along to suddenly feeling wiped, “Guess your right about that one pal,” Says the younger lad.

The shorter man lets the other sins lead him back upstairs and into bed, the six seemingly falling asleep as soon as they lay down. Leaving Jeremy to think he’s the last one to be awake until he feels Geoff pull him closer to him and mumble something sleepily into the back of his neck;

“Everything worked out in the end huh?”

Jeremy smiles to himself and burrows further into the tattooed gents’ arms, “It sure seems so.”

This life’s worked out indeed.  

 


End file.
